


Eurydice

by JadeLotus (Lotusflower85)



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: New Republic Era - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-25
Updated: 2014-10-16
Packaged: 2018-01-20 18:30:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 24,085
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1521074
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lotusflower85/pseuds/JadeLotus
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Luke must decide how far he is willing to go to save the life of Mara Jade.  Mara, meanwhile, has her own journey to make.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Thrace

It started out simply enough, but then, disasters always do.

Against her better judgement, Mara Jade had found herself accompanying Luke Skywalker and his rag-tag band of would-be Jedi Knights on a diplomatic mission to the planet Koli. Routine in every aspect; evidently the indigenous population wanted to join the New Republic and thus Leia Organa Solo had been sent to negotiate - with her husband in tow. Given that the Koli people were a fierce warrior race, the Jedi had been co-opted into providing protection. Or, as Mara surmised, it was Luke’s way of giving his students experience without the inherent dangers associated with actual combat. As Mara had been on Yavin 4 at the time on one of her brief sojourns into Jedi training, Luke had insisted she come along. After all, how dangerous could a simple diplomatic mission be?

In hindsight, Mara should have known better. She found herself, back to back with Luke, lightsaber drawn, facing not only the Koli army, but a battalion of stormtroopers.

It had all started with that damned sphere.

 

_“They call it the Ovid,” Luke had told her earlier that day. They stood in a great, circular hall, empty save for a pedestal at the very centre, upon which a glowing ball rested, floating just a few centimetres above the platform. It was perfectly spherical and appeared to be made of some kind of glass or crystal. In any case, the contents of the sphere was clearly visible, almost like a cloudy, green gas which shone brightly as it moved within the sphere, lighting up the entire room. It was mesmerising._

_“Ovid?” Mara asked. “Sounds like a medical product.”_

_Luke smiled. “It is their word for eternity.”_

_Mara found herself unable to look away; even though the glow hurt her eyes. She reached out to touch the surface of the sphere, just to see what would happen._

_“Don’t do that,” Luke told her, placing a halting hand on her arm. “The Ovid contains over a million kals of apollonius radiation. Besides,” he added. “It is against their law to touch it. Even looking upon it is a great honour, or so Leia tells me.”_

_Mara quickly withdrew her hand and stepped backwards for good measure. “And they just leave this lying around?” she grumbled. “Why have it at all?”_

_Luke shrugged. “It’s a religious artifact. And it’s safe as long as it’s held in that sphere”_

_“Oh,” Mara added sarcastically. “In_ that _case.” And she strode off, wondering at the idiocy of a race that would keep a biological weapon as a shrine._

 

Her usually razor-sharp instincts had failed her. It had soon become apparent, during a ceremony in that very chamber, that the Koli weren’t as stupid as she had guessed. When blasterfire broke out, the last place you wanted to be was a circular room with the enemy on every side, but that was the very situation they found themselves in.

Apparently the Koli weren’t as peaceful as they claimed, in fact quite the opposite. They were in league with the local Imperial Warlord Vyper, who had clearly planned on capturing not only the Chief of State, but half of the Jedi as well. That, or killing all of them, which was always a distinct possibility.

Mara engaged one of the Koli warriors in battle, her lightsaber easily slicing through his vibro-axe. He faltered, and she spun around him before aiming a decisive kick into his stomach, causing him to double over in pain and crawl away. Luke was deflecting blaster fire back towards the stormtroopers, causing some of them to retreat back out of the hall. The braver ones kept coming, however, although the Jedi students seemed to be holding them off.

“A nice, easy mission, you said,” she called to Luke over the din as she parried another Koli warrior. “Maybe take in some scenery. I should have known better, Skywalker.” She swept her lightsaber at the warrior’s feet, causing him to jump back to avoid the blade and consequently topple over.

Luke was easily overcoming his own warrior, and she felt his amusement through the Force.

“Probably!” he called out in a voice that could almost be described as gleeful.

But the blaster fire increased and it took all of their efforts to catch the bolts with their sabers, ducking and weaving, knowing which bolts the other would catch; almost like a dance they were performing.  

She wasn’t sure if it was a deflection from his saber, or hers, or even if it was simply a stray bolt which was way off target, but in a sickening moment they both heard the crack behind them. Mara turned, and sure enough, the Ovid had been struck by blaster fire. She could already see the cracks forming in the sphere, and a wisp of green gas begin to escape.

“I thought you said that thing was safe!” she called to Luke, turning back around to catch the barrage of blaster fire that was still being shot at them.

“Obviously not against blasters,” Luke grimaced. There was a long moment when he seemed to be deep in thought, even as he fought off the oncoming blaster bolts. “If it explodes, or even leaks…” he shook his head, his mouth in a firm line. “I have to do it.”

“What?”     

“That sphere has enough radiation to wipe out the entire planet,” he cried, his eyes bright, his face determined. “If I can channel it using the Force into myself, I can stop that.”

“Luke, you can’t!” she cried, swinging her lightsaber savagely as she deflected another blaster bolt.

“There’s no other way,” he said simply as three stormtroopers approached him and he engaged them in battle.

Mara glanced over at Leia and Han, who had taken up positions at the slope of the eastern wall and were firing expert shots into the mass of stormtroopers. She looked back at Luke, briefly allowing herself to admire his fighting style, even as she deflected further bolts of oncoming fire and dispatched a stormtrooper who advanced on her.

She couldn’t allow Luke to give his life like this; not with his sister there, not when there were dozens of students waiting to be trained into Jedi and he was the only one who could teach them. Because despite her misgivings, Mara did believe in his cause. She believed in him.  

_No other way?_   she thought to herself. _We’ll see about that._

Luke had dispatched his stormtroopers, but still more advanced on him. Taking advantage of his distraction, Mara abandoned her post and ran to the podium. The sphere shone so brightly Mara wanted to look away, but she forced her eyes to remain on it even though the light stung, so much more than it had earlier. She noticed the hairline cracks around the edges of the sphere where the radiation was already beginning to seep out. She sheathed her lightsaber and placed her hands on either side of the Ovid, fingers covering the cracks. She winced as the radiation touched her skin; it was like fire, but somehow so much worse, agonisingly hot and yet unbearably cold at the same time.

Mara gritted her teeth and closed her eyes, trying to ignore the pain even as it increased. She took a deep breath, and calmed herself like Luke had taught her, before reaching out to the Force. She focussed on the substance within the sphere, and imagined drawing it into her body. She opened her eyes, and saw that it was working, her hands and forearms tinted green as the radiation was absorbed into her. She opened herself up to the Force, making herself a vessel of it, enough to hold the radiation and neutralise its effects.

Pain slammed at her from every side, like thousands of pinpricks on her skin but she did not dare let go of the sphere. She was unable to stop a scream from escaping, or burning hot tears to stop brimming from her eyes as she slammed them shut again. She vaguely heard Luke call her name, scream at her to stop, but she ignored him, for his life and the lives of everyone else depended on her resolve.

There was pain, but Mara seemed to move beyond that; she could feel the Force itself as it possessed her; she could see the universe and every star within it; she could feel every sentient being on every world in the galaxy. She was one with them; their births, their deaths, their bitter sufferings and fiercest joys. It burst within her, like a star gone supernova; matter collapsing in on itself and then being recreated, over and over again as life renewed itself.

She _was_ the Force.

After what seemed like an eternity, but was probably only a few seconds, Mara was compressed back into her body, and she noticed that the pain had subsided. Her eyelids felt unbearably heavy, but she opened them, and her grip loosened on the sphere as it dropped to the floor and shattered. But it was empty now – harmless – she had taken all of the radiation inside herself and sealed it there with the Force. She raised one hand level with her eye, and the green tint subsided, the skin returning to a pale flesh tone.

But Mara found her legs no longer worked, and, unable to keep herself upright, she collapsed. There were arms there to catch her, and lower her gently to the floor. She looked up, and saw that it was Luke who held her, looking distraught and angry at the same time.

“Dammit, Mara,” he said. “Why did you do that?”

“Same reason you were going to,” Mara said, although her voice was raw and cracked, and her throat burned. “Why should you have all the glory?” She tried to laugh, but coughed, and felt the warm, metallic taste of blood.

Luke’s jaw visibly clenched and he shook his head. “You should have let me do it,” he said gruffly.

“Oh, Skywalker,” she whispered, as her chest constricted and heart beat erratically. “So quick to give – so unwilling to accept the same of others.” She swallowed heavily and clamped down on her pain in her ribcage. “How many times have you been willing to give your life for someone else – for me?” she asked him. “Let someone else make the sacrifice for a change.” She coughed again, and she could feel her lungs go raw. “You’re needed,” she rasped, and glanced upwards to where Leia and Han stood behind Luke, and behind them, at a respectful distance, Kyp Durron and the students from the Jedi Academy – the battle was over. Leia’s hand was pressed against her mouth, her brown eyes wide and full of tears, and even Han, who had one arm around Leia’s shoulders, looked distressed.  

“Oh, Mara,” Luke said softly, drawing her gaze back as he tenderly brushed the hair away from her forehead. “ _You_ are needed.”      

She tried to smile, but found she did not have the energy. She couldn’t feel her legs, or Luke’s arms which she knew must be wrapped around her. Even her vision was going dark and fear set in. Mara tried to speak, tried to call his name – _Luke_ – but her muscles would not obey her; her mouth would not form the words, and her voice would not speak them. Concentrating, Mara willed herself to at least make some movement and rejoiced when she was able to shift the fingers of her left hand, just barely. She could not see him, but Luke must have noticed, because his hand enveloped hers and squeezed comfortingly. That, she felt.

Mara tried to tether herself to him, and to life, concentrating on the pressure of his hand, his fingers wound in hers, to pull herself back.

But even the awareness of his touch faded, slowly, as everything went finally dark.          


	2. Against the Dying of the Light

Leia Organa-Solo crouched on the floor of the _Millennium Falcon_ , carefully cleaning the painfully raw blaster wound in Han’s thigh. She was trying to be as gentle as she could, blotting the cauterised area with a med-towel, but despite her care Han still winced slightly at the antiseptic. It did not help that he was seated at the gaming table of the _Falcon_ , rather than lying down in the medbay, but unfortunately the ship only had one medcot, which was presently occupied and Han refused to be taken to one of the sleeping cabins. Leia surmised that he didn’t want to be kept away from anything.

“So, doctor, will I live?” His words were light, but his expression grim. It was typical of Han, trying to lighten the mood, but his heart wasn’t in it. Leia looked up at him and he seemed to belatedly realise the inappropriateness of his words.

But she chose to ignore his oversight. “You will,” she told him simply and she applied a bacta patch to the wound.

“This is a real mess, eh?” Han shook his head.

Leia sighed and moved to take a seat next to him at the gaming table. She rubbed her hands over her eyes, which were still raw from crying, and suddenly felt very tired. “Yes it is.” She was silent for a few moments, before lowering her hands to rest on the table, clasping them together.

“We really should get you to one of the cruisers,” she told him, referring to the New Republic battleships which had arrived and fought off the Imperial craft which had been in orbit over Koli. “It would be better to have a med-droid look at that wound.”

“I’m fine,” Han told her. “A few days rest and I’ll be good as new.” He leaned over and placed one of his hands over her clasped ones. “Hey,” he said softly, and she looked up at him, his face, although still tinged with sweat and dust from the battle, was concerned and gentle. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” she repeated back to him, although she knew her expression to be less than convincing. “I never really had much time for her,” she began after another silence. “You seemed to understand her more than me – like her, even.”

Han nodded. “She and I were the same– in a way.”

“She saved us – all of us.” Leia felt the tears well up in her eyes again, and in her husband’s presence only, she allowed them to fall. “I just wish I’d gotten to know her better.”

“She was one of a kind,” Han nodded, and patted her hands gently. “And it’s alright to have regrets, Leia – no one saw this coming.” He exhaled, a sort of half-laugh, and looked away wistfully. “You know I always thought, her and Luke…but it doesn’t matter now.” He shook his head again, and Leia wanted to reach for him, to enfold herself in his arms, remind herself every day that her husband was alive, and how lucky she was that neither of them had been seriously injured in the firefight, in the hundreds of other battles they’d been in over the years. If that blaster bolt had been a few feet higher, and hit Han in the chest rather than the leg…she had never really stopped to think about it.

But all it would take was one accurate shot, one miscalculated move, one sacrifice, and it could all be over, for either of them. Never before had Leia keenly felt how fragile their lives were, and never before had she appreciated Han as much as she did in that moment. She wanted to tell him so, but the comm buzzed angrily, and broke her train of thought.

“I’ll get it,” she said, rising and placing a stilling hand on his shoulder. “Don’t you dare get up.” She needed to head to the cockpit to answer properly, but before she went, she held Han’s face between both of her hands and kissed him fiercely, hoping it conveyed all of her unarticulated thoughts.

He smiled, sadly, as she drew away, and Leia knew that he had understood, and felt the same. She sighed and headed down the corridor to the empty cockpit, took a seat in the pilot’s chair and punched the comm.

“Yes?” she answered tersely, angry already at whoever thought it necessary to disturb them at such a time.

“Madame Organo Solo?” The clipped voice of Kyp Durron answered over the comm, and Leia cringed inwardly. She’d had little contact with Kyp, but Luke had spoken of him often, enough for her to discern that he was a rather tactless young man.

“Yes?” Leia answered in a tone she hoped displayed her displeasure.

“I’m sorry to disturb you,” Kyp answered. “The captain over here on the _Valiant_ has asked if we should get going – the Star Destroyer’s been chased off but he thinks it unwise to linger.”

Leia forced herself to assume the role required by her position. Captain Ortega was in charge of the NR ships, but she was the highest-ranking NR representative so the call fell to her. “I agree,” she told Kyp. “But not quite yet – a half-hour, at least.”

“I understand – it may take some convincing,” Kyp replied. “How is he?” he asked after a pause.

Leia sighed, leaning back against the pilot’s chair. “Not good.”

“Do you need any of us over there?” Kyp asked, a note of pleading in his voice. “To help?”

“No,” she told him firmly. “Not just yet – I’ll comm back when we’re prepared.” She shut off the comm without waiting for Kyp’s reply, knowing that she could not wait any longer. She’d been putting it off, but Leia understood that she had to speak with him, convince him that it was time to leave.

She slowly rose out of the pilot’s chair and walked back down the corridor of the _Falcon_. As she passed through the lounge she noticed Han was still slumped at the gaming table, but his eyes were closed. Probably a blessing, she told herself, knowing how painful a blaster wound could be. She kissed her fingers and touched his head softly with them as she walked past, down to the _Falcoln_ ’s medbay.

She entered soundlessly, and saw Luke seated in the only chair. His hair was rumpled and his overall appearance rather dishevelled. But his face was what concerned Leia the most – it was blank, devoid of emotion; in fact he looked almost catatonic. He stared unblinking at the medcot which contained the prostrate and lifeless body of Mara Jade.

It had been an awful moment, down on the planet, when Luke had held Mara’s body in his arms as she slipped away. He had kept shaking her, patting her cheek, calling her name, until eventually Leia had knelt down beside him and forced him to stop. Luke had not cried, but instead withdrawn within himself, insisting on carrying her back to the _Falcon_ and lying her reverently in the medcot himself. He had sat in the chair and refused to leave her, as if he was taking up residence by her sickbed, waiting for her to awaken. Leia had been forced to leave to get them off the planet and tend to Han’s injury, a decision she was now regretting.         

“She died for me,” Luke spoke up, and Leia almost jumped at his sudden words, unaware that he had noticed her enter. “To save me – all of us,” he added, although his voice was emotionless and blank.

“Yes,” Leia agreed, “she was very brave.” As sad as she was for Mara’s death, Leia would always be grateful for it, for Mara had saved the life of her beloved brother, had prevented him from making the sacrifice which would have ended in Luke’s dead body lying in the _Falcon_ ’s medbay, rather than Mara’s. Leia would thank the Force every day for the rest of her life for Mara Jade, once sworn to kill Luke Skywalker, but who ended up saving him. Leia found that there was some kind of bittersweet poetry to that, although she would never share those thoughts with Luke.

“She was brave,” Luke repeated, his eyes still on Mara. “She was brave, and good…and she didn’t deserve this.”

“No she didn’t,” Leia concurred softly. “No one does.”

“No,” Luke disagreed, although his eyes did not leave Mara’s body. “Some people do – the ones who did this to her do.”

“I can feel them,” he continued after Leia didn’t answer. “The Koli, down on that planet, those stormtroopers – that warlord Vyper and all those men and women on his Star Destroyer, even though they’re light-years away by now.” A shadow crossed his face and Leia felt uneasy.

“I could touch their minds,” he continued, “and it would be easy – so easy – to end them all. I know how.” His head tilted slightly, as if considering. “And it would be justice.”

“Luke,” she was most distressed. “Please don’t say that.”

“Don’t _say_ it or don’t _do_ it?” His voice sounded hollow.

She stepped forward and placed a hand on his shoulder, squeezing slightly. “Please don’t _say_ it,” she told him. “I know that you would never do it.”

There was a long silence, and for the briefest of moments, Leia doubted her own words. She was confident in her brother’s ability to resist the Dark Side and not act out of revenge, but his lack of affect bothered her deeply. Even after Vader had died, he had not seemed like this. But then, she supposed, Vader had died in peace and redemption, whereas Mara was still so young, with so much potential. Her death seemed like such a waste.

Eventually, Luke’s shoulders sagged ever so slightly, and his hand came up to rest over Leia’s, still on his shoulder. “You’re right – I couldn’t.” There was a hitch in his voice. “I would never.” A single tear slid down his cheek as his gaze was fixated on Mara’s form in the medcot. “But I wish – I wish I had the will.”

Leia moved swiftly to kneel before him, taking his face in his hands. “You don’t mean that, Luke,” she told him firmly, wiping the tear from his cheek with her thumb. “You don’t.”

“And you know me so well, Leia?” he asked, his voice suddenly harsh.

“ _Yes_ ,” Leia told him emphatically. “We are of the same blood, the same body, the same _cells_ ,” she continued, her hands still on his face, even as his eyes remained locked on Mara. “I know you like I know myself, and you would never want to cheapen Mara’s sacrifice by giving into anger.”

Luke looked down at her then, his eyes bright, clearly transmitting that his pain was undiminished, but Leia could tell that she had gotten though to him. He bowed his head, visibly crumpling, and Leia reached up at drew him into her arms. Although he did not cry, Leia could keenly feel his despair through the Force. She felt his pain and grief at Mara’s death, but also his guilt that she had died to save him; had become a martyr because that was what he’d taught her, by example, to be.

No words from his sister could dissuade him from this opinion, that much she knew, but she could give him her comfort and her understanding. So she held him close, refusing to let go, as she felt his anger ebb.

Until, eventually, she could tarry no longer. She pulled away ever so slightly, wincing at the blank look on her brother’s face which held back so much pain. “Luke,” she told him softly. “We have to go.”

“No.”

“Luke,” she touched his cheek. “We need to take her back to Coruscant.”

“No,” he repeated, his voice determined. He looked up at Leia, and she noted a faraway look in his eyes, almost as if he was seeing through her, beyond her. “We can’t leave yet.” He smiled, ever so slightly, at odds with his otherwise blank expression. “I know how to save her.”      

 

* * *

 

It was not dark.

She could not feel her eyelids, but somehow she knew that they were closed. And yet, there was light; bright, intrusive whiteness all around her, such that it was impossible to stay at rest.

Mara opened her eyes, although the view did not change – all she could see was white.

_Great_ , she thought to herself. Mara had never really thought about what happened when you died – in truth, she had always thought that was the end, with nothing left but peace. She’d been sort of looking forward to that. Skywalker had always had those lofty opinions about being enfolded back into the Force; that there was some sort of beyond where the dead could see the living, and perhaps, interact with them if they were strong enough. He’d been visited by old Obi-Wan Kenobi, from such a place –or so he said. Mara had always been sceptical about that, and had chalked it up to a hallucination or wishful thinking.

And yet she’d died, had felt her body give up and the darkness engulf her, but here she was – wherever it was.

Mara stood and surveyed her surroundings another time, turning slowly on the spot, seeing nothing but white, white, and more white. _Great_ , she thought again, _this is worse than a Mon Cal psych ward_. But as she finished her rotation, she saw a figure – one she hadn’t noticed before.

A woman stood not ten feet from her, smiling warmly. She wore a simple white gown which fell to the floor, bare feet poking out from under the edge of the skirt. Dark hair framed her heart-shaped face, and gentle brown eyes gazed at her serenely.

“Hello, Mara,” the woman addressed her in a soft, lilting voice.

The woman was not known to her, but there was a familiarity that Mara just couldn’t place. “Where am I?” she asked.

“This place is called by many names. The people of my planet called it Erebus,” she replied.

“Oh,” Mara said, not sure what that meant. “And who are you?”

The woman smiled again. “I am here to help you.”


	3. Five People You Meet in Heaven

The woman in white stood before her, smiling serenely. Her hands were clasped lightly before her, resting on the folds of the white gown which rippled slightly around her legs and bare feet, even though there was no breeze. Her dark hair was worn loose, and soft curls fell about her shoulders and down towards her waist. Her voice had been clear and precise, and while it lacked the crisp formality and accent of a Coruscanti native, there was no doubt the woman had been highly educated. Mara catalogued all of this, for she could feel, but not place, the familiarity of the woman.

It was her eyes, Mara decided, that were the most troubling. The woman had a gentle yet probing gaze, as if she could find out everything about her without needing to speak. Mara looked away.

“You can’t help me,” Mara stated, a hard edge to her voice. “I’m dead.”

The woman smiled, showing her straight, white teeth – as if the place she was in needed more white, Mara thought with annoyance.

“Death is not an end, Mara Jade,” the woman told her, with the same gentle tone. “It is a path.”

Mara sighed. “Is there anyone else I can speak to?” she asked. Mara liked the direct approach – she had little time for philosophy. “You’re being a little obtuse for me,” she clarified.

“My apologies.” The woman took a step towards her, the silver bracelets on her wrists jangling slightly as she did so. “I have been here a long time, and it’s been some while since I have spoken to anyone from the other world. Most people pass directly on.”

“On where?” Mara asked.

“The Force,” the woman replied simply. “That is from where we are born, and where we return to when we die. Where we are now is a path in between – a gateway between the other world and the heart of the Force itself.”

“Oh.” Mara crossed her arms. “So I’m in the universe’s waiting room?”

The woman smiled again. “Something like that.” She took another few steps towards Mara. “I know all about you, Mara Jade – I have watched you for some time. But you do not know me, and it is remiss of me not to introduce myself. My name is Padme Naberrie Skywalker.”

Mara did not consider herself easily surprised – but Padme had done it. She looked at the woman again, the dark hair, the heart-shaped face, the deep brown eyes, and this time she saw the resemblance to Leia. And yet that was not the familiarity she had felt – no, it was the quiet grace, the gentle calm, the easy yet probing gaze – that reminded her of another Skywalker.

“You’re Luke’s mother,” Mara stated, and Padme smiled and nodded in response. “But why?” she asked. “Why you?”

“There are few of us here, in this place,” Padme explained. “As I said, most people move directly on, to the Force. But some of us linger here, and I thought it best I meet you first.” Padme assessed her reaction. “I see you don’t understand,” she continued. “I don’t blame you.” Then she turned on one heel and began walking. “Follow me,” she called over her shoulder, and Mara had no choice to obey.

“First?” she asked. “You mean there are others?” She saw Padme nod even though she did not answer. Then Mara made the belated connection her mind – if Padme was Luke’s mother, that meant… “Is Vader here?” she asked, a hard edge forming in her voice.

Padme looked over her shoulder. “Anakin is here, yes,” she answered evenly, then turned back around and kept walking. “But you’re not ready to meet him yet.”

Before Mara could argue or protest, the pure white of their surroundings faded, and they found themselves in a huge chamber hundreds of metres wide and so tall the end could not be seen. Thousands of grey compartments circled the walls, and Mara recognised it as the old Senate chambers on Coruscant.

Padme looked almost regal in the surroundings, and she tuned to Mara with a smile. “This was the Senate as I knew it,” she told her. “This place can use your memories to recreate where you were the happiest,” she continued by way of explanation.

Briefly, Mara thought at if she was stuck here, it would be struggle to think of any place where she had been truly happy. When she looked back at Padme, she had the unnerving feeling that the woman had known what she’d been thinking, and Mara felt her cheeks grow warm.

But if she had read her thoughts, Padme gave no other sign, and took a seat in one of the circular consular compartments. She crossed one leg over the other and folded her hands over her knee, then looked back up at Mara.

“You did not pass on directly for a reason,” she imparted. “Because there is something tethering you to the other world. Perhaps it is simply the radiation from the orb, perhaps it is something else. But no one ends up here by accident.”

Mara took a seat for herself, but where Padme was relaxed and contemplative, Mara sat on the very edge of her chair, back straight and hands tense on each knee. “So how did you end up here?” she asked.

Padme suddenly seemed sad, and it took her several moments to answer. “The day I gave birth to my children was the worst day of my life,” she said eventually, her voice quavering slightly. “I had seen my husband turn to the Dark Side – turn against his friends, his brother Jedi who he had once admired and loved so much – even turn against me. I had been…injured, and the birth had been difficult.” Padme paused and took a deep breath before continuing. “Then I saw Luke and Leia, my dear children born of the love Anakin and I had for one another – I did not want to leave them.” A tear slipped down Padme’s cheek, but she made no move to wipe it away. “I tried so hard to stay, to _will_ myself to live for them, but I was being dragged away – I suppose it was the will of the Force,” she added quietly, but any bitterness must have dissipated long ago for there was no anger in her words. “And then I came here,” she continued, “to watch - and wait.”

Mara took several moments to digest what Padme had told her, moved by the woman’s story. And yet, she couldn’t stop herself from observing; “That sounds like a pretty horrible existence.”

Padme had composed herself, and gave Mara a wry smile. “Perhaps at first,” she agreed. “It seemed so unjust; that I should watch my children grow up without me, that I should see my husband help destroy the Republic that I had served my entire life.” Then Padme fixed her with a resolute gaze. “But I can never become one with the Force without them. I will wait until we can all be together again.”

Mara wasn’t sure what to say – such fervent love and devotion always made her uncomfortable. Perhaps it was because she had never had a family, save for the Emperor; perhaps because such emotion always felt beyond her grasp. She had been loyal to Palpatine, had loved him as a father, but it had been a falsehood. The utter sincerity of Padme’s words made the life she had left behind seem bereft.

“So what do I have to wait for?” Mara managed to ask. “I don’t have anybody back there.”

“I can’t answer that,” Padme told her simply. “The Force brought you here, not I.”

“So I just have to wait around, watching other people live their lives until the Force decides to accept me?” Mara asked, a hint of irritation creeping in.

“I’m sorry I do not have the answers you want, Mara,” Padme said, and her regret seemed genuine. “But we are not alone here,” she continued. “If you go through that door,” Padme pointed to the exit of the consulate chamber, “you will meet others. Some of whom have a particular interest in meeting you.”

“Are...” Mara steeled herself. “Are my parents here?” He voice sounded small and pathetic, and she winced inwardly.  

But Padme’s expression softened even further with obvious compassion and sorrow. “If they are, I am not aware of it. I’m sorry, Mara.”

Mara shook it off with a shrug of the shoulders – that pain was so old she barely felt it anymore. In any event, she consoled herself, perhaps not knowing was the easier path.

“Many of those here are Jedi,” Padme added, “They had to find their way here. It seems I am the exception, since I am not a Jedi nor did I come here based on intent. That, I believe was the work of a friend, and the Force.” Padme paused for several moments, only speaking again when it was clear that Mara did not understand her meaning. “I am sure your parents would have found their way here if they had known to. I’m sure they loved you."

“That’s fine,” Mara answered shortly, and looked away.

There was a soft rustle of silk and the musical jangling of silver, as Padme crossed the chamber and sat beside Mara. She almost reached out to take Mara’s hand, but evidently thought better of it and clasped them again in her lap.

“When I first came here,” Padme told her softly, “I missed my children so much. I used to watch them – Leia swimming in the oceans of Alderaan, Luke playing in the sands of Tatooine. While it gave me comfort to know that they were both loved, it was too painful to know that I had been taken from them. The friend who helped bring me here – a Jedi by the name of Qui-Gon Jinn – taught me how visit the world I had left behind. I am not a Jedi, so I could not appear to people as strongly as he could, but it was enough to visit my little girl a few times. She could sense me there, I knew it, even if all I could do was hold her and cry a little.”

“You never visited Luke?” Mara had to ask.

“I wanted to,” Padme smiled sadly, and there were tears once again in her eyes. “Luke was such a dreamy little boy, his head always in the clouds. Owen Lars was a good man, but he was of the earth, not of the sky as Luke was. I’m not sure how he would have coped with Luke telling him he’d seen a ghost.” Padme looked her in the eyes. “What I’m saying is that we can’t always do what we want for our children, even though we love them.”

Mara nodded, unsure of how to respond to that. She felt hot tears behind her eyes and blinked them away, remembering her own childhood and thinking that it would have been torturous for her parents to watch that. She was touched that Padme had shared such deep and personal memories with her, and understood her sympathy, and yet it seemed somewhat pointless. What good would it do her now?

“Thank you,” Mara told her, as she rose. What else should she say _? I hope Luke and Leia die soon so you can be with them?_ Mara really wasn’t good in these situations. “If there’s more people I have to talk to, I should get on with it,” she said eventually, backing towards the exit.

Padme laughed, a soft musical sound that echoed through the chamber. “This is not a chore, Mara,” she chided her. “This is to help you.”

“What help can there be for me now?” Mara asked. “I’m dead,” she said again.

“If there is one thing I have learned,” Padme told her, “it’s that we cannot know the will of the Force, or where it will take us. Your journey is not over yet.”

 

 

* * *

 

 

Han stood in the entrance to the medbay, arms folded and leaning against the doorframe. There was no room for him inside, with Mara’s body lain out on the sole bunk, Luke seated on a chair beside her, and Leia standing beside him, hand on his shoulder and trying in vain to talk him out of his plan.

“She’s dead, Luke,” she was telling him. “You can’t bring her back.”

“I can,” Luke replied with confidence. “I can feel it, in my bones, in the Force. She’s not lost completely.” He turned his gaze back to Mara’s body.

“Luke, please do not do this,” Leia pleaded with him, and knelt by his chair. “ _Please_.”

It wasn’t like Leia to beg, but then, Luke had never disregarded her in such a way before. The twins had certainly disagreed in the past, but they had always listened to and respected the other’s opinion. Neither had openly defied a genuine request from the other, especially when the stakes were so high.

“I have to, Leia,” he replied without looking at her. “It will work, I promise you.”

“Think about this, Luke,” Han called out to him. “You can’t promise that.”

Leia started to cry. “You’re killing yourself, Luke,” she sobbed. “And you don’t know if you can bring yourself back.”

Finally, Luke turned to her, cupping her cheek with his hand. “Have faith, Leia. I can do this. I _have_ to do this.”

Han took a step into the room. “You don’t have to, Luke,” he said firmly. “Mara gave her life to save all of us, to save _you_. Don’t waste her sacrifice.”

“I have to do this,” Luke repeated, looking up at Han. There was a grim determination in his face and Han realised that there was nothing he could do or say to convince Luke otherwise. It was the same resolve that had convinced Luke to become a Jedi and avenge his Aunt and Uncle; to go on the near-suicide mission for the Rebel Alliance of Yavin 4 rather than run away like Han; that had pushed him to redeem his father or die in the attempt. Once Luke made up his mind, that was what he would do no matter the risk, or consequence.  

Han grimaced, and placed his hand on Leia’s shoulder, drawing her away. She stood and went into his arms easily, still weeping. “I hope you know what you’re doing, kid,” Han said, somewhat accusingly.

Luke turned back to Mara. “I do,” he confirmed, and took her lifeless hand in both of his own. Then he drew a deep breath, his eyes fluttering closed as he went into a Force trance.

“This is madness,” Leia whispered against Han’s shirt.

“I know,” Han replied, rubbing her back to comfort her. “But he says he can do it, Leia. He’s usually right about this kind of thing.”

Leia nodded and pulled away, wiping the tears from her eyes and composing herself. She reached out her hand to Luke’s neck and pressed two fingers to his pulse. “It’s slow,” she said softly. “He’s deep into the trance.” She pulled her hand away and cradled her fingers as if she’s been burnt.

“I’ll hook him up to the support so we can monitor him,” Han offered, and moved to set up the equipment. In just a few minutes, Luke’s breathing became so shallow and infrequent that it was imperceptible without the machine recording his life signs. His heartbeat slowed until it barely registered.

Leia knelt on the floor beside her brother. She went to take his hand, but withdrew, not wanting to disturb his trance. Han took his place on the floor next to her, wincing as the movement stretched the blaster wound in his thigh. He placed his hands on Leia’s shoulders and squeezed gently.

“Now we wait,” he said softly.       

 

 

* * *

 

 

Luke had never been so deep into a Force trance before. He had been to the brink a few times, to the edge between life and death, where he knew of a tear that existed between the world he lived in and the next. He had never dared go near it, but now he welcomed it, going further than he had before, the tear expanding at his will, enough for him to slip through. He knew if he stayed too long it was likely he could not return, but he was certain he could find Mara and bring her back. He owed that to her, to her sacrifice.

Under ordinary circumstances, it would be impossible. But Mara had absorbed the radiation from the Ovid, and Luke hoped that enough energy still remained so that her body and mind could be revived. He had forced Leia and Han to remain in orbit around Koli, hoping that the radiation had in some way tethered Mara there, enough to bring her back. He trusted in his instincts, in the Force – in Mara’s strength and his own determination to defy the laws of the universe, for it was not her time to pass on.

And so he nudged at the corners of the tear, squeezing himself through and into the light.


	4. The Will of the Force

 

Mara walked through the hallways of the Jedi Temple on Coruscant, but it was not as she remembered. The Emperor had often made her visit the ruins of the Temple when she was young, but it had been a tomb, then. The first time he had accompanied her himself, telling her of the Jedi who had once inhabited it – the Jedi who exemplified all the evils of the Old Republic, who had been brought down by their own hubris. It had been the Jedi, after all, who had disfigured him in a failed assassination attempt – Palpatine, the democratically elected Chancellor. The Jedi were elected and governed by no one, and thus ultimately corrupt.

She had absorbed his words without question, hating the Jedi who had once walked through the same halls, who had built such a shrine to themselves. Mara had visited many times after that, examining the blaster and lightsaber burns in the walls, studying how the Emperor had so effectively cut out the heart of the Jedi Order. The bodies of the slain Jedi had long been cleared away, but it had felt as if their ghosts had remained. The entire complex made her skin crawl, but she went there to remind herself the importance of service.

The Temple she had known had always been dark, but the halls she now walked through were brightly lit, with all aspects of the massacre gone as if they had never existed. It seemed to be teeming with life, although Mara could not see any inhabitants it was almost as if they were there, around every corner and doorway, just out of view. Mara walked through the great hall, through the pristine training rooms and library until she reached the apex of the Temple, the heart of the Jedi Order – the Council Chamber.

The Emperor had never allowed anyone to enter the Council Chamber, the doors always locked. Perhaps it was because he hated the Jedi so much, or perhaps he had thought if she had seen it, seen the circle of chairs where no Master was above the other, she may have questioned his teachings on the selfishness and dictatorial nature of the Jedi.

Musing on this, Mara walked across the room, her boots clacking against the marble floor. Coruscant stretched out before her, but not the Coruscant she knew under the New Republic, or had known under the Empire. In Imperial Palace, in particular, was missing the embellishments and additions Palpatine had made, and her suspicions were confirmed. She was looking at Coruscant as it had been under the Old Republic, and since Padme had told her that her surroundings were chosen by desire, there was little doubt that the next person she was meant to meet had been a Jedi.

The skin prickled on the back of her neck and Mara turned back around to see a man standing in the doorway, unsurprising, in Jedi garb. There were distinguished streaks of grey at his temples and through his ginger beard, framing a mature but handsome face. He smiled at her, and his blue eyes sparkled, but Mara wasn’t the type to be taken in by such an obvious charm offensive.

“Hello there,” he greeted her in a rich Coruscanti accent.

“Hello,” she responded cautiously.

“I am so pleased to meet you, Mara,” his grin widened. “At last.”

Mara folded her arms across her chest in annoyance. “Really.”

“Yes,” he nodded, either not noticing or choosing to ignore her sarcasm. “I am Obi-Wan Kenobi.”

Mara pointedly looked him up and down, but said nothing. Friendliness was clearly Obi-Wan’s tactics, but silence was hers. She did not doubt his words, but Luke had often fondly described “Ben” and the man before he simply did not match the image in her mind.  

Obi-Wan’s smile faded slightly at her reaction. “Surely Luke has mentioned me?”

Mara forced herself not to smile at his obvious disappointment. “No, he did,” she said finally, and to Obi-Wan’s obvious relief. “More often than I cared for, to be honest,” she added with a sly smile. Obi-Wan’s grin returned, and he seemed more pleased than offended by her words. “It’s just Luke always gave me the impression that you were…old.”

Obi-Wan laughed, the rich sound echoing around the walls of the room. “We may change our form in either realm,” he explained. “This is my preferred form, naturally, however Luke knew me as an old man, ravaged by the twin suns of Tatooine.” Obi-Wan took several steps forward, into the centre of ringed chairs, giving her a wry smile. “He was going to struggle enough with the concept of seeing a dead man, I did not want to confuse him further.”  

“So why am I seeing you?” she asked.

“Maybe I’m here to help you pass on.”

Mara sighed. “And why would I need help doing that?”

“Because you have not done so already,” Obi-Wan told her calmly. “Those who linger here do so for many reasons…to watch over or wait for someone they love.”

“Well, there must be some other reason,” Mara said. “Because there’s no one back there that I love.”

Obi-Wan removed his hands from the folds of his robe and crossed them over his chest, giving her another irritating smile. “Then I should help you discover what that other reason is.” He uncrossed his arms, one hand moving to his chin to stroke his beard in contemplation. “I came here because I was to watch over Luke, prepare him for the hardships ahead, and I was derelict in that duty.” Obi-Wan suddenly seemed very sad. “Owen and Beru were fine custodians of Luke, they raised him well, but Owen blamed the Jedi for what had happened to Anakin, and so I had to content myself with watching him grow from afar. I only had a short time with him, in the end,” Obi-Wan added with palpable regret.

“The will of the Force it was, Obi-Wan,” another voice spoke up, and Mara looked to her immediate left, surprised to see that a small, green creature had appeared in the chair. Mara took several shocked steps back towards the centre of the room, and Obi-Wan moved to accommodate her, taking a seat two chairs to the creature’s right and crossing one leg over the other.

“Let me guess,” Mara said dryly. “You’re Yoda.”

 

“Hmph,” Yoda did not seem impressed. “Addressed so informally, am I?”

Obi-Wan covered his smile with one hand and Mara put her hands on her hips. “Well you’re not my Master, and I’m not a Jedi,” she said defiantly.

“What the boy sees in this one, I cannot,” Yoda said, and Mara winced at his uncomfortable speech patterns. Luke had told her many stories of his Master and his peculiar ways, even imitating his voice and teachings on occasion to make her laugh, but it was entirely different to hear it in person.

“Ruder than you told me she is, Obi-Wan,” Yoda continued, banging his gnarled stick against his chair in obvious displeasure.

Mara raised an eyebrow at Obi-Wan, and he held out his hands defensively. “I don’t think I said rude,” he said.

Mara shrugged. “I’ve been called worse.”

“Wild, perhaps? Hmmh?” Yoda said, his large eyes appraising her severely. “Directionless. Undisciplined. Indecisive. All of these things you are, Mara Jade.” He shook his head, his large ears drooping slightly. “Accept the will of the Force, I do,” Yoda sad somewhat grumpily. “But agree with it always, I do not.”

“What do you mean by that?” Mara demanded. “What’s the will of the Force got to do with me?”

“The will of the Force has everything to do with you.” Another, deeper voice echoed throughout the room, and a dark-skinned man appeared in the chair to Yoda’s immediate left. “The will of the Force has to do with us all,” he said. This man, she recognised from the history holos the Emperor had made her study about the Clone Wars. She had never seen Obi-Wan referenced, or Anakin Skywalker, and assumed later that Palpatine had excised them from Imperial History to conceal Vader’s origins, but Mace Windu had been prominently featured in the anti-Republic and anti-Jedi propaganda she’d been force-fed as a child. It was he who had tried to seize power, or so Palpatine had said – he who’d left him scarred, and so had been cast as the ultimate villain in Palpatine’s revisionist history.

She could sense that Windu was about to start a lecture, so she turned back to Yoda instead. “No one’s ever described me as directionless or undisciplined before,” she argued. “Most people would say the opposite.”

“Master Yoda refers to your study of the Jedi arts,” Windu answered. “Or rather, lack thereof.”

“You proudly say that you are not a Jedi,” Obi-Wan added, once again stroking the side of his bead. “You allowed Luke to teach you briefly, but resisted formal training. Why was that?”   

Mara shifted uncomfortably from one foot to the other, painfully aware of the three Jedi Masters seated like a jury before her. “So I am here for judgement?” she asked. “Am I not worthy enough to join the Force yet?”

“All beings become one with the Force, Mara.” A soft, gentle voice spoke up from behind her, and Mara turned to see yet another man in Jedi robes. _Great_ , she thought, _how many more can there be_?  

Mara sighed with frustration and rubbed her eyes, although she was not tired. It seemed to be impossible to be tired when one was dead, and so it was likely a remnant, automatic reaction from her life.

“So who are you then?” she asked.

“I am Qui-Gon Jinn,” he told her, nodding his head in what appeared to be a slight bow.

“Qui-Gon was my Master,” Obi-Wan spoke up. “He was the first of us to find his way here.”

“Right,” Mara said. “Well why don’t you take a seat and you can all get back to berating me,” she added with good humour.

Qui-Gon smiled and folded his hands in front of him, but did not move from his place. _They’ve got me surrounded_ , Mara thought with amusement.

“We are not your judges, Mara,” Qui-Gon said, “nor are we here to reprimand you. We are here to help you.”

“Oh?” Mara crossed her arms again. “How’s that?”

“By understanding the choices we made in the life before, we can prepare ourselves for the journey ahead,” Windu said, and she turned back around to face him. “You always held the Jedi in contempt,” he continued, his expression serious, “even when you discovered the falsehood of Palpatine’s teachings. And yet you sacrificed your life to save Luke Skywalker, in part so he could continue his work training more Jedi. It seems to be a contradiction.” Windu smiled at her for the first time.

Mara looked down at her feet, suddenly uncomfortable, her prepared barbs falling away from her like a discarded cloak. “It wasn’t just for his Jedi,” she said softly, her eyes on the patterns on the floor. “Maybe I thought his life was worth more than mine.” She looked back up to see Windu regarding her thoughtfully, Yoda impassive, and Obi-Wan looking grieved.

There was movement at her elbow, as Qui-Gon had moved to her side. His eyes were kind and sympathetic and she looked up at him.

“Would Luke think the same?” he asked. “Or would he think your life was worth more than his instead?”

She remembered the way Luke had looked at her, as he’d held her in his arms as she was dying. There has been such sorrow in him, such regret. Mara huffed, shaking off her melancholy. “He’s a stupid farmboy – he would think the life of a blister gnat is worth more than his own.”

Obi-Wan chuckled lightly, as if with remembrance. “He has such a love for others,” he said. “Such selflessness.”

“Berated him once for choosing the easy path, I did,” Yoda said, nodding. “But wrong I was.”

“Luke was always wiser than his years,” Obi-Wan continued proudly. “He knew that the quick and easy path would have been to kill Vader, as we had wanted him to do. The harder path to take – the right path – was to redeem him.”

“And by doing so he enabled Anakin to fulfil the Prophesy,” Qui-Gon said, moving to stand between Yoda and Obi-Wan, although he did not take the empty seat. “To bring balance to the Force by defeating the Sith, and allowing Luke to rebuild the Jedi Order, unencumbered by the dogmatic old ways.” He smiled warmly. “To become an embodiment of the Living Force.”

“And so my destiny was to save him,” Mara said glumly. “I get it.”

“Is that what you think?” Qui-Gon asked her.

“What else can I think?” she shot back. “I’m here, I’m dead. What else can I do?”

Qui-Gon smiled mysteriously, and shrugged. “Perhaps you are ready to move on,” he said evenly. “Or perhaps there is more you can do.”

“What, hang around here with you creeps?” she asked, annoyed. “Watching people all day? Spend my time coming up with cryptic little messages and haunting people with them?” Mara shook her head. “No thanks.”

“Tell you I did,” Yoda banged his stick against his chair again. “Disrespectful is she. Mindful of her choice, she is not.”

“What choice?” she demanded angrily. “It’s no choice at all.”

“You may not understand now,” Windu spoke up. “But you will.”

Mara was ready to continue arguing, but the Jedi and their Temple disappeared, and she was once again engulfed by a white light.

* * *

 

A sense of peace permeated Luke’s entire being as his consciousness returned. He knew he was in the right place, he could feel the Force flow through him more keenly than it ever had before. And yet he could feel the other world as well, the one he had come from, and knew that he still had a pathway home.

Blinking rapidly, the world came into focus, and he saw that a young woman in white stood before him, her eyes wide.

“Luke!” the woman gasped, her hands flying to her mouth in shock. “It’s you.” She let out an audible sob, and pressed her hands more firmly against her mouth to compose herself. Then she closed her eyes and took a deep breath, before lowering her hands to clasp them in front of her. When she opened her eyes, they were bright with unshed tears. “Do you…know who I am?” she asked, the hope clear in her voice.

It only took a few seconds for it to click into place in Luke’s mind. If he was blind and deaf, he would know her, just by her presence in the Force, her presence within him. He knew her name, remembered her face, in an instant understanding everything he needed to know. His heart had cried out for hers from the day he was born, and his face cracked into a smile as he felt whole again.

“Yes, I know you,” he said, swallowing heavily. “Mother.”

“Luke,” she said again, tears beginning to fall. “My beautiful boy, you are so brave. I wish…I wish I could hold you in my arms.”

Luke stepped forward hopefully, but she held up a hard to stop him. “I can’t,” she said with obvious sorrow. “If you touch anyone here, you will not be able to return to the world of the living.”

His hands dropped to his sides, disappointment lancing through him. He had so often wondered about his mother, and now she was before him, as beautiful and kind as he had imagined, but unable to embrace her as a son should.

“There are so many things I want to say to you, my darling,” Padmé said, tears falling unimpeded onto her face. “But you must go, or you will not be able to reach her in time.”

“Mara?” His purpose re-asserted himself.

Padmé nodded. “You must follow the path she has taken,” she told him. “If you can catch up to her, and take her hand you will be able to return her to your world.” She gestured to the whiteness behind her. “That way. But Luke, you must hurry,” she urged him. “If she takes the hand of another, someone from this place, she can never go back. And if you take too long, you will not be able to leave, either.”

Luke nodded purposefully, and moved past Padmé to the path she had indicated, willing himself not to reach out and embrace her.

“Luke,” she called out to him, and he turned around. Sorrow mingled with joy on her face, and she smiled at him. “You were such a lonely boy, and I am sorry for that,” she said through her tears. “But I want you to know that you were wanted, and that you were always – _always_ – loved.”

He wanted to answer, to tell her that he had always loved her, too, but she had faded from view as he was once again surrounded by nothing but white.


	5. Ignite the Stars

Mara stood in high grass, her boots sinking slightly into the soft earth. She could feel a cool, crisp breeze upon her face, and although she knew she no longer had lungs, inhaled it gratefully. Magnificent waterfalls tumbled in the distance, pooling into a stream of rivers, and she could hear the powerful roar of the water as it coursed past her into a distant and unseen sea. Above her the sky was the clearest blue, punctuated occasionally by white, fluffy clouds which did not prevent the bright and gentle sun from beaming down and warming her face.

“Lovely, isn’t it?”

Mara whipped around at the sound of the voice behind her. A young man stood a few metres away, wearing Jedi robes of black and dark brown. Light brown hair framed a handsome face, albeit marred by a long scar which ran down the right side of his forehead beside his eye.  

“Oh no,” she shook her head and took a step backwards. “Not you.” Even though she had never seen his true face, Mara knew exactly who stood before her. And despite herself, she remembered being in the dark and hearing nothing but mechanical breath, always watching, always judging, never speaking. She remembered her Master once sending her to his training room for lightsaber practice and spending three weeks in the medcentre afterwards. She remembered his imposing figure at her Master’s right hand and envying him, hating him and fearing him in equal measure.

Vader.

He smiled at her and it was the most unnerving thing Mara had ever seen. It was the normality of it, she decided. Darth Vader was not a man with a single scar and a youthful complexion – he was not a man at all. He was a Sith encased in black armour, a deep voice punctuated by staccato breath. Behind a grotesque mask were eyes of yellow, not blue, and he did not smile because his charred skin was stretched too light over a brittle skull.

“I’m Anakin Skywalker,” he said to her, and she had trouble reconciling herself to the pitch in his voice. “But I’m sure you already figured that out, right Mara?”

She bristled at being addressed so informally. “Why are you here?” she managed to spit out.

Vader laughed then, but not the low, mocking rumble which he had often directed to her in the past, but a light, amused chuckle, as if he was appreciating a joke she had made. “This is my small corner of the Force,” he told her.

So she was in Vader’s construction - Mara remembered Padmé had told her that they could conjure happy memories, and was surprised that there was anything so beautiful within his mind.

“I should be the one asking why _you_ are here,” he added.

“I’ve been telling everyone the same thing,” she retorted, crossing her arms over her chest defensively. “I don’t know why I’m here.”

“If you say so.” He looked and sounded so much like Luke in that moment that Mara had to turn away. _If you say so._ It was a private joke, almost, between her and Luke, when one of them had said something the other thought was ridiculous but not worth arguing over. She didn’t want it tainted by _him_.  

“Look, Vader-”

“ _Anakin_ ,” he cut her off firmly, his smirk at once falling into a frown.

They stared each other down for several moments, Mara unwilling to call him by that name, and Vader seemingly refusing to continue until she did. Eventually, he sighed deeply, and looked away.

“I understand why it is so hard for you to say,” he said quietly. “I refused to think of myself that way for so many years. I had dishonoured that name.”

Mara shrugged dismissively – she could not disagree. “So why insist on it now?”

“Because I am Anakin, here,” he answered simply, his blue eyes locking back on hers.

“How nice for you,” she said dully, wrapping her arms tighter around herself.

“I know that I was…cruel to you sometimes, Mara,” Vader said, taking a step towards her. “I am deeply sorry for that.”

Mara looked away again. “It was to be expected.”

“Oh?”

“You were threatened by me,” she reasoned.

Vader laughed, and this time there was a hint of derision. “You are strong in the Force, Jade,” he admitted. “But not strong enough for Palpatine. He wanted a Skywalker.”

Mara looked back at him, clenching her jaw to clamp down on her sudden anger. When she’d served the Emperor, she had been proud that he’d nurtured and encouraged her abilities in the Force. Of course, he had never trained her in the ways of the Sith, but it had gratified her to think that Vader’s dislike of her was in part due because he feared she would take his place.

“Does it hurt?” Vader asked, drawing closer to her, but his voice was soft and full of understanding. “To know that despite your loyalty and service, it never would have been good enough for him?”

Mara looked away again, not wanting him to see he’d struck a nerve. “Palpatine was evil,” she said haltingly. “It only hurts to know that I served him.”

“You don’t have to conceal yourself, Mara,” Vader told her kindly. “Of all people I understand the hold he could have on a person.”

“I should have known better,” she insisted.

“No,” he told her firmly. “ _I_ should have known better.” She looked back up at him, amazed by the comfort and understanding of his gaze. He _was_ Luke’s father, she realised, understanding hitting her forcefully.

“We bear the burden of our service to evil Mara,” he continued. “You will carry that regret for the rest of your life.”

“What life?” she asked him. Did she have to stay here in the world between the living and the Force until she was absolved of the evil she had done under Palpatine’s order?

Anakin did not answer, but turned to look at the waterfalls in the distance. “This is Naboo,” he told her, a small smile lighting up his face. “My wife’s homeworld.”

“It’s beautiful,” Mara conceded, unsure of what else to say.

“Like her,” Anakin smiled, and he seemed very far away in that moment. He sat down in the grass and crossed his legs with a practiced ease, absently running his hands over the pink and yellow wildflowers. “We were so happy, here.”

Mara cocked her head and studied him, intrigued by the information. While Padmé had chosen to show her the Senate chambers on Coruscant, Anakin had chosen to meet Mara here, not in the simulated surrounds of the Jedi Temple or his own home, but his wife’s. He must have loved her deeply, Mara realised, and she had never thought such a thing possible.

Mara steeled herself, and then knelt down in the grass near him. “What happened?” she asked.

A shadow crossed Anakin’s face as his gaze dropped, and his left hand encased in a black glove clenched tightly around the stem of a blade of grass. “The Force showed me a vision of Padmé dying in childbirth,” he began softly.

Mara didn’t know what to say, although she thought, not for the first time, that the Force was spectacularly unfair and often cruel.

“I let fear overtake me,” Anakin continued, his voice thick. “Master Yoda told me that I should let go of everything I feared to lose, but I thought I knew better.” He sighed deeply. “In my arrogance, I did not understand the wisdom of his advice, and so in trying to save her, I only made sure that my vision would come to pass.”

Mara was moved by his honest and obvious regret. She had never before thought Vader capable of such emotion, but she realised now that there was so much she did not know about him. Mara had always seen him as a brute enforcer, unsubtle and uncompromising, and therefore so much lesser than the Emperor, than herself. Now she saw that she hadn’t understood him at all.  

“My wife died because I chose power and darkness over the happiness I could have had with her,” Anakin continued with obvious regret. “My son and daughter grew up without her, without one another because of that.” He ran his hand through the grass again, plucking a small yellow flower and twisting the stem between his fingers. “Luke knew better than me – his love was purer,” he added. “He loved his sister and his friends, but he left to protect them. He cared for me, but would not let me draw him to the Dark Side. He quite literally threw away all defence and renounced everything, so that the Emperor had no weapon to turn him.”

Mara looked away at the intimacy of Anakin’s words. And yet irritation coursed through her as well, her first and most reliable refuge when faced with emotions that made her uncomfortable.

“Skywalker,” Mara said derisively, and waved her hand. “Everyone wants to talk to me about Skywalker,” she added. “Isn’t this supposed to be _my_ spiritual journey, or whatever shavit you goons have been sprouting off about? But so far I’ve had to talk to Skywalker’s mother, Skywalker’s old Jedi Masters and _you_.”

“That’s true,” Anakin conceded, and leaned back casually on his hands. “But he’s why you’re here – you gave your life to save his. That requires examination, don’t you think?”

“Not really,” Mara said dismissively, shifting her knees in the soft earth. “You’ve just articulated why he needed to live.”

“More than you?” Anakin asked, raising his eyebrows. “The Mara Jade I knew had more self-preservation than that.”

Mara sighed harshly. “You didn’t know me at all.”

Anakin shrugged, and looked carelessly up at the sky. “I could say that he changed you,” he said conversationally. “But Luke doesn’t change people. He just brings out what was always there.”

“If you say so,” the words came out of her mouth before she could stop them, and Anakin laughed.

“I do,” he said. “Because I understand,” Anakin admitted. “Luke has such a light about him that you cannot help but feel dwarfed by it.”

That was true, Mara reasoned. And yet… Anakin and the others had barely known Luke. They had watched him from afar with hope and admiration. All of them – Padmé, the Jedi, and now Anakin held him in such reverence. He was the beloved son who had redeemed his father, the first of a new breed of Jedi, greater than the old, the embodiment of balance in the Force. But Mara knew the doubts and anxieties that plagued Luke, the mistakes he had made, the struggles he still faced. Yes, he was everything Anakin and the others had said, but Luke was still just a man. As flawed as Mara herself was.

Anakin looked at her curiously, and she had the feeling that her thoughts were being read. _Stay out of my head, Skywalker_ , she wanted to say, but those words, again, were those she shared with Luke.

“Why didn’t you want to become a Jedi?” Anakin asked. “Do you doubt your own judgement?”

“If there’s one thing in life I trust, it’s my own judgement,” Mara replied tartly.

“Oh, I see,” Anakin grinned. “Maybe it’s that being a Jedi is such hard work – so many responsibilities. Much better to go out in a blaze of glory,” he nodded and waved a hand airily. “That way you’ll always be remembered as the woman who saved not only Luke’s life, but an entire planet. You never had to give being a Jedi a proper shot, and so never had the chance to fail.”

Mara practically leapt to her feet, turning away from Vader angrily. How dare he question her resolve? And what did it matter now – why was she forced through this torment?

“Or perhaps you feel that it is your penance?” Anakin called after her, standing as well. “As it was mine?" Mara brushed his words off with a shake of her head, walking away from him. He caught her quickly, jumping in front of her so she was blocked by his tall and imposing form. He waited until she looked up into his eyes.  
  
“Mara,” he began softly. “I have spent many years here, in this place, among those I love and who love me in return. I feel the burden and regret of my service to evil, and know that it will not truly be lifted until I move on and I become one with the Force. And yet I have been forgiven, by my son, by my wife, and my brother Jedi who I had betrayed.” He hovered his hands around her cheeks, almost cupping them and yet did not quite touch her. “My crimes were so much worse than yours, and I had chosen my service, where you were indoctrinated into it. Won’t you forgive yourself?”  
  
Mara could not escape his probing gaze, and searched her feelings for the truth of his words. She had spent the past few years since learning the truth about the Emperor, trying to forget what she had done as his Hand. Was that what was stopping her from embracing being trained as a Jedi? Had she hidden behind her business responsibilities and doubt in Skywalker’s ability to teach so she would not have to face her own fear? Had she pulled away from Luke’s encouragement and desire help her because she had not felt worthy of it?  
  
When she did not speak, Anakin dropped his hands again, stepped back and continued.

“The last thing I saw in life was my son,” he told her, and tears filled his eyes. “My Luke who loved me, who had saved me, and wanted so badly for me to live.” Anakin looked away. “But that was not the will of the Force,” he added softly. “And a part of me – the selfish part - is glad for that. The true penance for my crimes would have been to live and attempt to atone for them, and yet I know that it would be my children, and not myself, who would have struggled under the weight of that burden. My son would have taken it from me gladly, would have defended and protected me even at the cost of his own reputation.”

Mara nodded, remembering how vigorously Luke had always defended his father, never condoning his actions, of course, but the good that had been in him. It was easier for people to accept that as a son’s love for his lost father, but if Vader had lived, and Luke was required to defend the person rather than the memory, Mara knew things would have been difficult for him.

“He is so much like his mother,” Anakin added softly as a tear slipped down his cheek. “She always saw the good in people, and always forgave, even when they did not deserve it. _Especially_ when they did not deserve it.”

Mara couldn’t disagree. She had boldly claimed she wanted to kill Luke; that she had been Palpatine’s assassin, that she hated everything he stood for, and yet he had not recoiled from her. Rather, he had reached out to her, accepted her, and encouraged her. And he hadn’t even known her.

“So you see, I had to die,” Anakin continued. “So that he and Leia could move on.”

Mara couldn’t help but be affected by his words. “I understand,” she said, nodding. “But I don’t know what this has to do with me.” It wasn’t as if she could explain all of this to Luke.

“It has everything to do with you Mara,” Anakin replied. He looked over her shoulder as if he could see something beautiful in the distance. “Padmé used to say that love was stronger than anything. Love could ignite the stars.”

Mara looked at him curiously and without comprehension.

“I turned to the darkness to try and save the woman I loved,” Anakin explained. “Now I know that the answer I sought could only have been found in the light.”

“What does that mean?” she asked, frustrated.

Anakin smiled. “You will understand, soon,” he said, and held out his hand, gesturing to a path beyond. “You have one more person to meet before you move on.”

Mara sighed and began to walk in the direction he had indicated, feeling as if every person she met only confused her further.

“Wait.” She halted suddenly and turned back to Anakin. He stood there, arms clasped in front of him, as if he had been expecting her to do just that. Quenching her irritation at the presumption, she continued. “At Endor, Luke said he was almost dead before you saved him.” She remembered Luke speaking of being held in Palpatine’s Force lightening, the appeal to his father that had only been answered at the last possible moment. “I guess I wonder what made up your mind?”  The Vader she'd known had not one shred of compassion, which was why she had found it so difficult to accept that he was Luke's father at first.

Anakin regarded her thoughtfully. “There are so many answers to that question, Mara” he began. “I could tell you that I had been in the same situation before, and had made the wrong, selfish choice. I could say that I thought Palpatine had done everything he could to break me, and that I yearned to be unbroken again. Or I was thinking of Padmé, of how much she would have wanted me to save her son. Perhaps I finally understood the prophesy, and that the only way I could bring balance to the Force was for both myself and Palpatine to die.”

“So what’s the truth?” Mara pressed.

“The truth,” Anakin smiled broadly. “Is that I saved Luke for the same reason you did."

Before Mara could question him further, her surroundings dissolved once again into blinding, pure light.

 

 

*******

 

 

Luke had barely left his mother’s presence before the light surrounding him dissolved. His new location was immediately apparent as a council chamber, with huge transpirasteel windows overlooking a city and a ring of chairs surrounding his position on a marbled floor. In front of him were four beings, three seated in the chairs and one standing between them.  

Yoda, he recognised immediately. Then Obi-Wan, although it took a few moments to reconcile the youthful image before him with the memory of old Ben Kenobi.

“Luke,” Obi-Wan greeted him with a familiar smile. “My boy, it is so good to see you again.”

“Hmmph,” Yoda grunted. “Under better circumstances, it should be,” he continued, banging his gimer stick against his chair. “Reckless you are still.”

Luke couldn’t help but smile, for he had missed Ben’s kind words and Yoda’s reprimands.

“Luke.” The silver-haired man standing between Obi-Wan and Yoda’s chairs gave him a kind smile. “I am Qui-Gon Jinn, and this is Mace Windu.” He gestured to the dark-skinned man seated in the chair beside Yoda.

Luke realised he stood in the presence of his Jedi forbears, and straightened his shoulders, clasping his hands in front of him in respect. “It is an honour to meet you both.”

“No, Luke,” Qui-Gon said. “The honour is ours.”

“We have been watching you for a long time, young Skywalker,” Mace Windu spoke up, his rich vice filling the room. “Your failures, and your successes.”

Luke bowed his head – he had made so many mistakes in the past few years, and it hurt to think he may have disappointed the Jedi of the old Order he had so revered.

“Failure is part of life,” Qui-Gon said. “A part of the Force. Do not regret your failures, Luke, for you have borne them better than most.”

“You have never failed us, Luke,” Obi-Wan told him, stroking his beard thoughtfully. “Never think that.”

“Thank you, Master,” Luke was relieved. He wanted to ask them so much, but knew time was critical. “I’m here for Mara.”

“She was here,” Mace told him.

“Delightful girl,” Obi-Wan smiled.

Luke wasn’t sure he’d ever heard Mara described as delightful before, and in fact noticed that Yoda scowled to himself. Qui-Gon looked at him with an easy yet penetrating gaze, and Mace openly studied him.

“You have to follow the path she has taken,” Mace explained, waving his hand and Luke felt a slight tug in the Force.

“You must be strong,” Qui-Gon warned him. “Only then can you take her back with you.”

“Promised me to finish what you begin, you once did,” Yoda said. “Hold you to that, I do.”

“I will, Master” he vowed, determined that he would find Mara, and unwilling to accept any alternative. Then, he would return to his mission of rebuilding the Jedi as Yoda had commanded him.

“Know this I do.” Yoda nodded, and smiled, his ears twitching.

“Go,” Mace told him. “And know that you are an equal here,” he added, nodding his head respectfully. “Master Skywalker.”

Luke’s heart felt full at those words. He had declared himself a Jedi Master, but he’d had no barometer to make such a claim. He’d taken the mantle because it had seemed necessary in order to start the Jedi Academy, but there had always been that niggling voice of doubt and uncertainty. To hear it from the lips of the Jedi of old was reassuring and gladdened his heart.

“Thank you,” Luke said again, looking over each of the Jedi before him trying to commit their faces to memory. But he felt a tug from the Force, and gave himself over to it willingly as the light consumed him again.

 

 


	6. What Dreams May Come

Luke walked through a valley of high grass and wildflowers, and in the distance were the most spectacular waterfalls he had ever seen. And yet while he appreciated the beauty of the location, Luke's gaze was fixed on the two beings standing in the grass to welcome him.

"Father." Luke's voice hitched. Before him he saw the Anakin Skywalker he had always known was behind Vader's mask, the Anakin everyone else denied still existed. And next to him, holding his hand stood Padmé, still beautiful in her white gown, her brown curls falling over her shoulders and a sweet smile upon her face. When Luke had met her before, she had been crying, overwhelmed with a mixture of acute happiness and bitter sorrow. Now she stood beside her husband with a glowing contentment. "Mother," he breathed the word, still strange on his tongue.

"Hello, my son," Anakin said, his voice thick.

"Luke," Padmé greeted him with a radiant smile. "I am so happy to see you again."

Luke wanted to say so many things, but found he couldn't say anything. He sensed that time was short. "Mara?" he asked.

"She was here." Anakin nodded solemnly. "But she is at the end of her journey, now."

Luke felt his heart constrict. "She's gone?"

"Not yet," Anakin reassured him. "She is at the precipice – the gateway to the very heart of the Force," he explained. "Once she takes the hand of the gatekeeper, it is the end. She will move on, and you cannot follow her there."

"Then I should go," Luke said, although he desperately wanted to linger, his gaze still fixated on his parents. "Who is the gatekeeper?" he asked, wondering if he would have to fight or otherwise cajole this person into letting Mara go with him. If that was the case he would need to be prepared.

"The Force itself made manifest," Anakin told him. "The form is different for everyone." His eyes lowered and his voice became soft. "Mine is my mother."

"Shmi?" Luke asked. He'd visited his grandmother's grave many times, on the ridge above the homestead. Beru kept it well tended, and every now and then Owen would speak of her and Luke would drink in his words. Owen described Shmi Skywalker as the kindest, strongest and most beautiful woman he had ever known, his usual gruff voice becoming soft and wistful. Although not Owen's mother by blood, she had been nonetheless the only mother he'd had, and he could not have asked for a more loving one. She'd been killed by Sand People, Owen had explained, and had always taken the opportunity to remind Luke not to venture out into the desert alone.

At the mention of his mother's name Anakin's jaw clenched, and Padmé rubbed his arm gently.

"I have visited the gateway many times, just to see her," Anakin said, his voice wavering. "And yet I cannot reach for her, cannot embrace her," he added sadly. "But I must wait here until it is my time to rejoin the Force."

Luke looked at his mother, and understood exactly what Anakin was feeling. He wanted nothing more than to run up and embrace the both of them, consequences be damned. But he could not allow sentiment to draw him away from his purpose. And yet, he couldn't stop himself from speaking again.

"What are you waiting for?" he asked, wondering why they kept themselves tethered to this inbetween world rather than joining with the Force.

Padmé turned her deep brown eyes to him and smiled. He felt her love wash over him like a gentle wave. "Isn't it obvious?"

"We are waiting for you, my son," Anakin reinforced gently, putting his arm around Padmé's shoulders. "And your sister."

Padme's eyes were fill of tears. "But we are content to wait a long time yet, Luke," she told him. "You must go now," she urged, pointing him onward.

Luke nodded and swallowed heavily, forcing himself to walk the path she had indicated. Again he felt the tug of the Force as the whiteness began to close around him. But Luke kept his eyes on Anakin and Padmé as long as he could, his beloved parents in each other's arms. He would never forget the image of them, would never stop thinking of them.

"Remember Luke," his father called after him. "Do not let Mara take the hand of her gatekeeper, and once you have her, do not look back," he warned. "If either of you does there is nothing that can save her."

Luke nodded, the words striking fresh fear into his heart. What if he was too late?

"We love you, Luke," Padmé called faintly, her voice thick. "We will be watching over you."

"I love you both," Luke called back desperately as they faded from view, hoping that they could hear him. "I love you."

 

* * *

 

 

Mara walked through what seemed to be a white mist, waiting for her surroundings to clear and her next destination to be revealed. But nothing formed, and she saw no one. She walked for what seemed like an age but went nowhere. All she could see was white.

And then, finally, a figure appeared before her. He was no more than a boy, perhaps twelve or thirteen years old, with shaggy red hair and an impish smile. Mara frowned, the boy completely unfamiliar to her.

He stood on the precipice between the pure blinding light of the transient world she had been inhabiting, and the place beyond. Behind him was an expanse of stars, a million bright constellations suspended in the inky darkness. She felt it call to her, felt the blood quicken in her veins and her heart jump in anticipation. She recognized it as the place she'd touched when he had absorbed the radiation from the Ovid into herself. It was the Force.

"Hello," the boy called to her, and Mara turned her gaze back to him. He seemed to be guarding the entrance to the Force, and she raised an eyebrow at him, wondering why such a task would be left to a child.

"So who are you then?" she asked with good humour. "Luke's sixth cousin twice removed?"

The boy laughed. "Not exactly."

"Do I know you?" she asked, thrown off by his manner which almost seemed familiar. "Why are _you_ the last person I'm supposed to meet?"

"The Force is where we all return," the boy said cryptically, avoiding the question. "But…it is also where we all come from."

Mara sighed. "I suppose it was too much to hope for _someone_ in this place to be a straight talker," she complained.

"I am usually," the boy grinned. "Or…I will be, when I get to your world."

Mara studied the boy, and could not deny the familiarity of his blue-grey eyes. "The Force is where we come from," she repeated his words softly to herself. Everyone else she had met had been known to her, or at least, she had been able to place them as people who had once existed. And while she felt as if she should know the boy, she did not recognise him. "You come from the Force," she realised. "Waiting to be…what? Born in the other world?"

The boy smiled and nodded.

"Who are you then?" she asked. Why would the Force send her someone who hadn't even been born yet?

The boy stared at her. "You know who I am."

"Everyone here is so sure about what I know," Mara rolled her eyes. "Humor me, kiddo."

"My name is Ben," he told her. "Or," he cocked his head to the side. "It will be. It _may_ be."

"Maybe?" she asked, quirking one eyebrow at him again. "Is there some doubt over whether you will be born?" she added skeptically.

"It depends on the will of the Force," Ben answered. "Perhaps I won't be the same," the corner of his mouth quirked into a smirk. "But if I'm meant to be born I will be – just under different circumstances."

"I see," Mara replied, even though she really didn't. Or, her treacherous heart told her, she didn't want to. Luke had often told her that the future was always in motion, and whatever the might-have-beens, the fact was she was dead and there was nothing to be done about that. Whatever life she might have lived didn't matter now.

"So what wisdom do you have to share with me, Ben?" she asked, folding her arms together. "You here to extol Skywalker's virtues some more?" she asked rather snidely. "To be honest I've had quite enough of that."

"No," Ben answered, suddenly serious. "I'm here for you."

"Finally," she said sarcastically. "Someone for me." She bit her lip and looked away, ashamed of how a note of hurt had bled through her wry words.

"They couldn't relate to you any other way, Mara," Ben said sympathetically. "They were his family, they understand him. It was natural for them to talk about him."

"And who understands me?" she asked. "You?"

"Yeah." Ben nodded and grinned at her. "I know that you're strong – strong enough to admit when you were wrong about everything you had believed your entire life," he continued seriously. "I know that you are brave enough to defy an order you knew was wrong, and accept compassion even though you had been taught to do so was weak. I know that every day of your life has been a struggle to stay in the light, and yet you kept fighting."

Mara shrugged, not wanting to betray how his words had cut at her heart. "What else was I meant to do?"

"You don't have to fight anymore, Mara," Ben said gently. "You can come home now, if you want."

"Home?" she asked. "You mean the Force."

"You have three choices," he nodded at her. "You can take my hand," he reached out to her, offering his palm. "And I will take you on to the Force. Or you can stay here," he stretched his hands outwards, indicating the white space around them. "You can create the world you want, watch those still living, and wait for whoever you wish to."

"Pass," Mara replied immediately. She could think of nothing worse than to hang around and creepily watch people from beyond the grave. No – the worst thing would be to have no one to talk to except the Jedi, who would drive her insane with their backwards talk and philsophising. The only person she could probably stand would be Padmé, but knew that she and Anakin would be a package deal, and couldn't bear any more discussions with him.

She looked to the stars behind Ben and was fixated by the beauty of them, far more vibrant than she ever remembered. "What will happen?" she asked, her voice small.

"You will become one with the Force," Ben told her, his face lighting up with the words. "You will be enfolded back into the fabric of the universe. Perhaps you will be reborn as a star, or perhaps your life energy will fuel a sunburst. Perhaps you will return in a living form." Ben shrugged. "We cannot know."

"So it is the end." Even though Mara was prepared to accept death, the realization that this was it saddened her.

"There is no end," Ben corrected her. "Nothing ever ends, and no one ever truly dies. The Force is eternal – an unending cycle of birth and death and birth again."

"So basically you're saying I will be recycled." Mara scrunched her nose in distaste.

"If you want to think of it that way, sure," he shrugged. "It is true once you rejoin the Force you will no longer be as you were back there, or as you are now," he continued. "But there is peace."

Mara thought back over her life of struggle, her childhood consumed by lessons and training with no time for play, no opportunity to make friends. Her teenage years which had been filled with orders and missions and blood on her hands. The hard years after the Emperor died, scrounging a living between systems, working for Karrde who she respected but was unwilling to form a true friendship with. Always on edge, always looking to be betrayed, or dismissed or abandoned. Reluctant, even, to trust the one man who had always shown her compassion and unconditional friendship.

Looking back, she had few good memories and too many evil ones. So some peace didn't sound too bad – and it wasn't as if she could go back. Mara was proud that her death had at least accomplished something, had saved a life so vital that perhaps it would make up for those she had taken.

"Alright," she turned back to Ben. "I'm ready."

He looked sad for a moment, but the expression was immediately concealed with a smile and a nod.

"If you're sure." He held out his hand again, palm upwards, and Mara stepped closer to him, lifting her own hand to place in his offered one. Time seemed to slow down in that instant as she lowered her hand, closing the distance between them.

"No!"

The desperate cry came from behind her just as Mara's hand dropped. And yet, it hit nothing, as Ben pulled away at the last moment. Mara turned to the sound of the voice, and was engulfed by a black-grey blur pulling her away from Ben and into strong arms.

Mara struggled against the force which held her, pulling back as the face of her captor came into focus.

"Skywalker?" she asked in disbelief. "What are you doing here?" A sudden anger lanced through her as she realised there was only one way he could be. "I just saved your doltish ass," she spat at him angrily. "The least you could have done was make it count."

"I'm not dead, Mara," he told her softly, and stroked her hair. "I came for you."

And suddenly all of the cryptic statements by those she had met made sense – they had known Luke was coming for her, that it was not the end. And yet…

"How is that possible?" she queried, pulling out of Luke's embrace and turned back to Ben. "I'm dead, I can't go back."

But Ben just smiled at her. "I told you there was a third option."

Mara berated herself for not picking up on his earlier words. Had she been so willing to accept death, to move on to the peace promised by the Force? Was Anakin right, had a part of her been so willing to sacrifice herself to save Luke because she was happy to find an easy way out?

"Mara," Luke said softly, and she looked back at him. He was fixated on her, his gaze intense and unwavering. He didn't even seem to notice Ben standing near them both, or seem interested on questioning who he was. All his attention was for her, and the magnitude of what he'd done sunk in. Luke had braved death for her, had thought her life was worth enough to come for her against insurmountable odds. And suddenly she wondered if she'd been so eager to embrace the peace offered by a return to the Force because she'd been afraid of the life she had left behind – afraid to take a chance.

Luke held his hand out to her, palm up, inviting her to take it, to return with him. "It's time to go home."

Home? That was what Ben had called the Force. She looked back at the boy and saw that his hand was also outstretched, indicating that she still had the option of going with him to the Force. She could still take the easy way out.

Mara Jade did not back down from a challenge, she told herself. Mara Jade had stood firm in the face of death, unafraid of it. Perhaps now she needed to be equally unafraid of life. Of her potential. Of being a Jedi. Of following her heart.

She reached out to take Luke's hand, and felt instant warmth at the connection. Luke grinned with happiness and relief, his fingers closing around hers as he stepped backwards, pulling her with him.

And yet Mara felt a tug at her heart, wanting to see Ben one last time. The boy with his clear blue-grey eyes that were so familiar, the cleft in his chin, the red hair which was the same shade she saw in the mirror every day. Ben had been right – she knew exactly who he was. And one day she would meet him, but for now Mara wanted one more glimpse to tide her over, wanted to capture the image of him in her mind so she could cherish and grasp if she had any future doubts.

So she turned.

"No, Mara," she heard Luke call desperately, at the fringes of her consciousness. "Don't look back."

But it was too late – his hand was pulled from hers by an unseen force. She was alone in the mist again, unable even to see Ben or the gateway to the Force. She flailed about, panicked, searching for purchase but it felt as if she was about to fall away into oblivion.

Then Mara felt Luke's hand grab hers again, pulling her back, away from the precipice. She could not see him, but felt his arms wrap around her, tethering her to him. And yet it was not enough, as Mara tried to grasp him, hold onto him, but he kept slipping away.

"Luke?" she called into the white mist surrounding her. She felt her soul splintering as she stumbled blindly to try and grasp him, follow him back into the world of the living.

And then she felt Luke again, but this time, he was inside her. She felt his gentle hands caress her, but he did not hold onto her arms or fold her into his embrace as he had done before. She felt his touch around her heart, in her veins, coursing along with her blood. Luke was there in her mind, holding her, pulling her back.

She gave herself over to it, pushing herself back at him and his mind and heart were open, waiting for her, taking her inside of himself gratefully and enclosing himself around her.

Then she heard music, the sweetest sound she had ever heard. It was enlivening, drawing her back into her body and yet she was not alone. Luke was there, as if her mind and body were no longer solely her own – it was as if they were now sharing the same space, the same energy, the same lifeforce. She felt him, the very essence of Luke Skywalker that she had always known and yet only now truly understood, and knew that he was feeling the same about her.

And yet she did not run from it, did not dare pull away from his strong hold. She clutched at him and held him to her, and in that moment they were each other as the Force enfolded around them, wound through them, and bound them irrevocably together in its eternal hold.


	7. The Beginning is the End is the Beginning

 

In the small medbay of the _Millennium Falcon_ , Leia kept vigil over two seemingly lifeless bodies. Mara lay prone in the medcot, cold and pale, her hand clutched in both of Luke's, who sat in the chair beside her. He was also alarmingly pale, although Leia knew that he was still in his trance and not lost yet.

It had been hours, but Leia refused to leave or respond to the repeated hails from the Republic fleet. She wouldn't allow Han to pull them out of orbit around the planet Koli, because Luke had been so sure he could save Mara, and what if he needed proximity to where she had died to succeed?

There was no room for another chair in the medbay, so Leia stood in the small space afforded to her and had not moved. The room was cold and her muscles were starting to ache from standing for so long, but Leia didn't care.

She felt strong hands on her shoulders, and leant back gratefully into her husband's chest. His lips gently brushed against her temple and she took his comfort gratefully.

"No change," Leia told him, her eyes flickering to the medical equipment the pair had both been hooked up to. It recorded Luke's infrequent heartbeat and minimal brain function, but there were no life signs present for Mara at all.

"Luke said he knew what he was doing," Han told her softly. "So I'm sure he does."

Leia trusted her brother implicitly, and knew there was no one who understood the Force better. And yet she could not wave away her doubts like Han could his. Luke had said he could do something, and so Han had faith that it would be done. He never doubted Luke, especially when it came to the Force. But Leia was Luke's twin, and she knew better his fears and insecurities. She understood that sometimes conviction and certainty covered recklessness and bold daring.

"I hope so," was all she could say. Leia desperately wanted to reach out to him through the Force, to reassure herself that he was not too far gone, but she feared disrupting him. Luke had almost broken when Mara had died, and Leia wondered how much of his determination to bring her back was guilt that she had sacrificed herself, and how much was his unaddressed feelings for her.

Han had privately joked about it many times, and Leia had a sneaking suspicion he was running a betting pool with Lando and Rogue Squadron as to if and when Luke and Mara would get together. It was obvious to anyone that Luke and Mara had a connection, but anything more was pure speculation. Except to Leia. She had sensed the depth of feeling her brother experienced towards Mara Jade, although she suspected he had not even acknowledged it himself. Mara herself was impossible to read, and so Leia had never broached the issue, laughing off Han's jokes as exactly that.

Leia's thoughts were interrupted by an increased frequency of beeps emitted from the monitor hooked up to Luke. Han was there in an instant, studying the screen, and Leia was flooded with relief to see that his heartbeat was quickening and brainwaves jumping to life. She put a shaking hand on Luke's shoulder, but his eyes were still closed.

"Luke?" She squeezed his shoulder tightly. "Luke, please come back," he whispered hoarsely, unable to stop her tears from falling. As if at the sound of her voice, Luke took a deep breath and his eyes snapped open.

Leia threw her arms around him in relief and happiness, kissing the side of his head and holding him tightly.

"It's alright, Leia," she heard Luke whisper as he leaned into her embrace. "I'm alright."

"What happened?" Leia asked as she straightened herself, wiping the tears from her eyes.

"I saw…" Luke looked up at her, and Leis was struck by the depth to his eyes, as if the entire universe was now held within them. "Mara…" He turned back to the woman on the bed. He had not let go of her hand, and now he leant closer to her, desperate concern clear on his face.

Mara was as pale and unmoving as she had been before. And yet she heard renewed sounds from the monitor indicating a second heartbeat. Leia looked over at Han, examining the screen, and he met her gaze with shock and confusion.

"I don't believe it," he whispered.

"I told you I could do it," Luke said, his eyes still fixed on Mara's prone form. And yet, now Leia could see her chest moving ever so slightly. It was shallow, but she was breathing.

"Luke," Leia tried to reason with him, stroking his hair softly. "Even if she is alive, her brain was without oxygen for too long…"

"Have faith, Leia," Luke breathed. "Through the Force, anything is possible." He squeezed Mara's hand. "Mara," he called to her gently, as if he was awaking her from a long sleep rather than calling her back from the brink of death.

Leia glanced over at Han again, who looked stricken yet hopeful. Mara shifted in the medcot and her lips moved slightly, as if trying to form words. Luke kept stroking her hand, and eventually her eyelids fluttered, although they did not open.

"Lu-" she muttered.

Han swallowed heavily, staring at the health monitor. "Brain function is normal."

"How can this be?" Leia asked no one in particular.

"I found her," Luke said, his eyes still on Mara as he stroked her hand gently, still held in his own. "I saw so many things, Leia, it was amazing." He turned to her, eyes alight. "I saw father," he added, visibly overcome. "And…our mother."

"Our mother?" Leia repeated, taken aback. But before Luke could speak further, a loud angry noise emitted from the health monitor. Han took the screen in both hands and studied it.

"She's flagging," Han said. Leia moved to his side to look at the equipment herself, and saw Mara's brain activity start to dip.

"She looked back," Luke said with slight desperation. "I tried to keep hold of her, but she kept slipping away." He touched her face gently, a tremor clearly visible in his hand. Leia sent a plea to whatever was out there in the Force that had sent Luke back to her to save Mara, too. She felt Han's hand close around hers, and she grasped it comfortingly.

Luke leaned closer to Mara and brought her hand to his lips, kissing her fingers gently. Then he spoke her name in a clear and even voice.

There was a tense moment, and Leia squeezed Han's fingers so tightly she was almost sure she'd broken one of them. She felt a glimmer in the Force, as if the universe itself was converging on then, in this room, in this moment.

Mara's eyes fluttered open and Leia let out a breath she didn't know she'd been holding. Han let out of whoop of shock and delight. Mara blinked several times as if trying to focus, her gaze darting to take in her surroundings. Only Luke did not seem surprised.

"Mara," Luke breathed her name reverently.

Mara licked her lips and swallowed heavily. "Luke," she said hoarsely, and swallowed again. Han fumbled through the medcabinet and quickly located a hydrating pouch, pulled the straw out and handed it to Mara. She reached for it somewhat clumsily with her free hand, and Luke helped guide it to her lips so she could suck down the liquid gratefully.

"Are you alright, Mara?" Leia asked, still anxious.

Mara's gaze slid over to Leia, and she was gratified to see that her green eyes were as vibrant and sharp as they had ever been. "I think so," Mara answered.

"I'll set course for Coruscant," Han said, heading towards the door. "So you get checked out properly."

Leia wanted to linger, to hear more about what Luke had seen in his trance, but saw by the way his gaze was fixated on Mara that she wouldn't get any straight answers out of him yet. And she could feel a shifting in the Force around the both of them – something had happened, and Leia thought it best to make herself scarce.

"You don't know how good it is to see you, Mara," Leia said softly, putting her hand gently on Luke's shoulder and giving him a sisterly kiss on the top of his head. "I'll go help Han with the navigation," she told him, to indicate that they would be left alone for a while.

It was with relief and newfound happiness that Leia went to join Han in the Falcon's cockpit. She smiled to herself, and wondered if it was too late to get in on the betting pool.

 

* * *

 

Mara Jade quickly oriented herself, surmising that she was in the Falcon's medbay. Her gaze flittered to the machinery beside the cot, which appeared to be monitoring her life signs as well as Luke's. She noted that their brain activity seemed to be moving in tandem.

Then Mara turned her gaze towards Luke himself, seated beside her cot. He was pale and beads of sweat dotted his brow, but he was looking at her with such wonder and relief he seemed to glow with it. Mara looked at where her hand was clutched tightly in Luke's, as it had been since she'd awoken.

"I think you can let go of that now," she said softly.

"Right." Luke withdrew his hand and smiled sheepishly. Mara flexed her fingers which had been held in his tight grip, wondering at the sensation of movement. She was alive.

"Thank you," she told him, unsure of how she could ever display her gratitude. And yet, somehow she could tell that he knew – or rather, he felt it. Mara thought back where she had been lost in the mists of the other world, flailing about helplessly and in danger of being drawn back into the Force. But then Luke had found her, had tethered her to him and dragged her back. They had connected on a level she had never experienced, and Mara could still feel that bond in the corner of her mind.

Luke was eyeing her nervously, but Mara found she didn't care. In fact, his presence was warm inside of her, and rather surprisingly Mara didn't feel the need to expel him, or resurrect the walls he had broken down in order to keep his hold on her and pull her back from the other world.

"I'm just glad you're alright, Mara," he said softly.

"Well, I'm grateful," Mara answered with a smile. "But it was still a stupidly reckless thing to do, Skywalker," she chided him. "I didn't save your life just so you could immediately risk it on some folly."

"Hardly a folly, Mara," he countered. "We're both alive – I wouldn't call that anything other than a success."

"Hmmm." Mara shifted in the cot restlessly, attempting to raise herself up on her elbows. But Luke pressed one hand against her shoulder easily pushing her back down again.

"You need to rest, Mara," he told her seriously.

"Fine." Mara pawed at her temple where wires from the machinery were attached by small suction cups. "At least get these things off me."

Luke removed them gently and cast them aside, then detached his own. Silence fell in the medbay as the monitors which had been charting their heartbeats and brain activity lost their connection.

"If I can ask, Mara," Luke said, looking at her keenly. "Who did you see?"

Mara arched one eyebrow at him. "The same people you saw I would imagine," she replied, and gave him a wry smile. "I don't think your Master Yoda approves of me."

Luke smiled in return. "He didn't approve of me at first, either."

"He said I was rude and disrespectful."

Luke laughed. "Were you?"

Mara shrugged. "He also said I was irresponsible and indecisive."

"He thought I was reckless and lacked faith."

"You are reckless," she laughed, and wondered when it had become so easy between them. Perhaps it was a newfound understanding through the connection they now shared, or perhaps it was Mara allowing herself to see him properly for the first time. She thought back to the child Ben, his ginger hair which would not doubt darken to auburn as he grew older, the freckles which dotted his nose, of his clear blue eyes and the cleft in his chin.

Mara reached for Luke's hand again, finding she missed the sensation. "Why did you come after me?" she asked seriously. "And no shavit about it being the right thing to do. The truth please."

It took him a long time to answer, as if he was weighing up the options. He stared down at their joined hands, his fingers intertwining with hers. With his free hand he traced soft patterns on her knuckles while Mara waited patiently.

"I couldn't let go of you," he said eventually, his voice thick. "Because I need you, Mara," he said plaintively, gazing into her eyes. "I need you in my life."

The words were fortified by his presence in the back of her mind, and she felt him reach out to her through the Force. This time, she did not push away or reinforce her barriers, as she had done so many times before. This time, she let him in, and his Force sense flooded her with soft waves of relief and affection.

Mara squeezed his hand gently. "Your father said that I was afraid of being a Jedi," she told him, no longer reluctant to share herself with him. "Afraid that I would fail. Afraid that…I wasn't worthy to be one."

"Is that true?" he questioned, clearly surprised.

"Partly," Mara admitted. "I wasn't sure that I could make the commitment, because then I would be bound by it, and after serving Palpatine for so long I didn't want to be bound to anything…or anyone."

"And now?" he asked, the hope clear in his voice.

"Now I have touched the Force itself," she told him. "And it felt like freedom – to _live_ , not to just get by."

Luke was visibly moved, and ran the backs of his knuckles gently down her cheek. "So why did you save me?" he asked.

"You know why."

Luke's grinned, his face radiant. "Yes, I do."

Another time, before this ordeal, she would have been angry at his presumption, or embarrassed of her own, obvious feelings. But she had been inside his mind, and felt acceptance and reciprocation; he had been inside hers, and felt understanding and promise. She finally understood what Anakin had been trying to tell her, finding the true explanation for her actions deep within her own heart.

Mara cupped the side of his face with one hand and pulled his lips gently down to hers. He kissed her with gentle fervor and tentatively touched her again with the Force, seeking to reestablish their connection. She opened herself up to him fully, no longer afraid, and felt herself surrounded and cocooned by his presence. Mara felt his mind and heart and soul, and held them gently in her embrace as they reached true understanding on a level previously unknown to them.

When she opened her eyes he was lying next to her on the medcot, their foreheads pressed together and legs entwined. They were both breathing heavily as they came back to themselves, Force senses retreating back into their own bodies. And yet, the connection was still there, solidified now, unbreakable and enduring.

"I love you, Mara," he whispered and kissed her gently. "I think I always have."

She touched his face, running the tips of her fingers reverently along his cheekbones and down his jawline. "I love you, too," she told him wondrously, surprised at the ease of the words.

They lay together peacefully for a long time and Mara almost drifted off to sleep before he spoke again.

"Mara, can I ask?" he cupped her chin turned her face towards him. "Father told me that the person at the gate to the Force is different for everyone. Yours was a child – did you know him?"

"Did you?" she asked, curious.

Luke shook his head. "I didn't really get a good look at him."

Mara smiled to herself. She wouldn't tell him, at least not yet. She wanted to keep that secret for herself. And she didn't ever want him to think that she only loved him for the sake of the child she was sure would be born to them, or the will of the Force. Mara knew that the connection between them would have happened anyway. Her experience in the other world had only forced her to face her feelings sooner.

Luke kissed the corner of her smiling mouth when she did not reply. "Okay, keep your secrets," he muttered good-naturedly.

"Well I don't have many of them left," she pointed out.

He looked concerned for a moment, and gently brushed the hair back from her forehead. "Are you okay with that?" Mara could feel his anxiety through their new bond.

"It may take some getting used to," she admitted. "But I like it," she added.

"Good." Luke took her hand in his and kissed her knuckles. "So now that you know everything about me," he smiled at her. "You must know that I'm going to ask you to marry me. Might as well do it now."

Mara laughed and sent a teasing poke through their bond. "You move fast, Skywalker."

"Is that a no?" he asked, confused.

"No." Mara said with a teasing smile. "Let me get some sleep first, Luke." She rested her head against his chest again, gratified when his arms enclosed around her. "It's been kind of a long day."

 

* * *

 

Mara sat in the medcentre on Yavin 4, watching Cilghal go over her test results. She had been examined on Coruscant first, and the meddroids had proclaimed her healthy with no apparent ill effects from her ordeal. However Luke had wanted to be sure, so Mara had agreed to let the Jedi healer examine her. Luke was anxiously pacing the room beside her, and she sent a calming wave through their new bond.

Cilghal looked up from her datapad and blinked her eyes. "You are in perfect health, Mara."

"But?" Mara could see the disquiet in the healer's face.

"I cannot be sure," Cilghal told them, looking between her and Luke. "But your Force patterns appear to be in tandem with Master Skywalker's."

"So?" Mara shrugged. She had seen that much from the Falcon's monitoring equipment, but had dismissed it as unimportant. "That could be attributed to the Force bond."

"Yes," Cilghal agreed. "But my concern is the _extent_ to which you are now bonded. And the consequences of that."

"What do you mean?" Mara asked.

"It appears to me that your minds are now so entwined that they cannot be separated," Cilghal showed them the scans on her datapad. "It seems they are far more in sync than one would expect, even accounting for a bond in the Force."

"She looked back," Luke said, troubled. "At the gateway, Mara," he turned to her. "You looked back – my father said if that happened there was nothing that could save you."

"But you did," Mara insisted. "You pulled me back with you."

"Maybe not completely."

His meaning dawned on Mara. She remembered how she had slipped from his hold, and that it was only when he had completely enfolded her within himself that she had been brought back.

"I will of course run more tests," Cilghal told them. "My initial analysis is that you will have a completely functional life, Mara. But Luke, and the bond through the Force you now share with him is tethering you here. If that bond were to break…"

"That won't happen," Luke said resolutely. "Never." He reached to take her hand, lifting it to his lips and pressing a firm kiss to her palm.

"Maybe not deliberately," Cilghal said gently. "But Luke, if you were to die..."

"I would die too," Mara nodded. Luke looked stricken, so she squeezed his hand reassuringly. "It's okay, Luke, I was dead anyway." However he did not look comforted.

"I'll leave you to talk," Cilghal said gently, and Mara nodded to her gratefully as she left the room.

"Well, Skywalker," she said softly, tugging on his arm until he stood facing her. "Looks like I'm stuck with you."

"I'm sorry." Luke looked anguished, his warm hands resting on her knees and squeezing gently.

"Don't be," she told him, cupping his face in her hands and lifting to meet her gaze. "I wouldn't have it any other way." She kissed him lightly. "I love you, Luke." The words still felt strange on her tongue, but every time she said them Mara felt more gratified.

Luke smiled against her lips as he picked up on her thoughts, gently trailing his hands down her back in the way he now knew she liked.

"I guess you'll have to marry me now," Luke goaded her when he pulled away. "You know, for your own wellbeing."

Mara laughed and pulled him close again, her arms winding around his neck. "Alright," she agreed. "But we'll have to re-write the wedding vows – till death do us part doesn't seem appropriate now."

"What about to the end of time?" Luke suggested.

"You're a sap, Skywalker," she told him, ruffling his hair affectionately.

"Yeah, and you're stuck with me," he reminded her, pulling her tightly against him. "Just think," he continued lightly. "You'll have to put up with me not only in this life, but in the next, and we can stay there for an eternity if we like."

Mara pulled back slightly, putting her hands on either side of his face and gazing deeply into his eyes. "Promise?"

He enfolded her into his embrace as their Force senses once more mingled into one. "I promise." They held each other close, and for a moment Mara felt her heart lighten and the whisper of something familiar though the Force.

Almost as if someone was watching them, and smiling.


	8. Epilogue

Mara didn't dream like she used to. Sometimes, she would be lost in the other world again, unable to see anything but swirling white mist as she floated weightlessly through the space between worlds. Now and then she would hear voices, snatches of conversation she couldn't quite decipher. But she was always pulled back upon waking, and there was never any doubt that she would always return to the world of the living. Luke was her tether, and even when they were apart physically, she could feel him in her mind, anchoring her so that she could not slip completely into the abyss.

Luke didn't always have her confidence. She knew that he sometimes watched her sleep, and could often feel a flash of anxiety a second before she awoke, a fear that this time she would not return to him.

It hadn't been easy. They'd been married six months after her recovery, but had quickly learned that a Force bond wasn't a fix-all. It was hard adjusting to one another, despite the strong love and affection which had bound them together, and Mara in particular had chafed at his constant presence in her mind. He, too, although more open and accommodating, found it difficult to adapt to the lack of solitude. But that only made him cling to her more tightly, which in turn made her shirk away and left them at times unable to find peace with one another.

Eventually she'd snapped and pulled her presence back from his mind, blocking his from hers. She'd been careful not to break the bond between them, her goal only to give them both some breathing room and resurrect some of the barriers which had been in place before.

He'd been furious anyway; had accused her of forgetting that they were meant to be a team, now, and therefore were to make decisions like that together; of being too careless with her own life and the tenuous hold she had on it. Mara had bit back with her own accusations - not trusting her judgement and smothering her with his worry. She'd felt the rage and darkness swirl within him, even through the walls she'd built to contain herself, but had been unable to stop her retaliatory action as they argued bitterly. He'd broken first, storming out of their shared apartment to blow off steam with Han.

Mara had been thankful to finally be alone, and yet it only took a few hours for her to start to miss him, to long for the feel of him inside her mind, that whisper of his voice that brought her comfort and pleasure far more often than it did irritation and anger. Luke returned late into the night and crawled into bed beside her, alcohol on his breath and a deep regret in his eyes. She'd accepted him gratefully into her warm embrace as they made their apologies and promises to each other; she not to withdraw but to share her frustrations, and he to temper his fear and to trust in her.

In the two years since then, they'd found an equilibrium with each other, a way to navigate their constant presence so that they complemented the other. They'd found they fit together after all, and the good times far outweighed the bad.

Yet he still watched her sleep, but Mara allowed him that one indulgence. In fact, she found it comforting to awaken to his loving gaze and be enveloped by his warmth after the cold mist of the in-between world.

"Hello, my love," Luke said softly as she opened her eyes. "Are you feeling better?"

Mara had dismissed a bout of sickness as unimportant but had acquiesced to Luke's insistence that she visit Cilghal. She'd then permitted herself the indulgence of an afternoon nap in their quarters on Yavin 4, which was where Luke had found her.

Mara stretched on the bed and gave him a sleepy smile. "Much."

"What did Cilghal say?"

Mara forced herself to keep a straight face and not give anything away through their bond. "She says I have acquired a small parasite."

Luke looked confused and slightly alarmed. "Are you alright?" he asked. "Did she give you a treatment?" Luke touched her face lightly, and she could feel him try and quell his panic.

"It's nothing to worry about," Mara told him. "She says it will go away by itself after about….oh, nine months." Her face broke into a smile as she watched him take her meaning. Luke skimmed the surface of her mind in confirmation, relief quickly falling over his face. She laughed and poked him in the belly.

"You're too easy, Skywalker."

He ignored her jibe and bent down to kiss her firmly, reaching out to her through their bond and extending his exploration to her body. The child was still infinitesimal inside of her, but she could feel its lifeforce growing within and guided Luke's questing senses to the place where it resided. For a moment the three of them were in tandem, and Mara released herself to join with Luke and their child in the Force without restraint, never feeling as safe, warm and alive as she did in that moment.

When Mara opened her eyes Luke was lying next to her on the bed and they were facing one another, an aura of contentment surrounding them. Once, she had feared such a closeness to another, but now those moments were that she lived for, a wave of pure love enveloping her. She had never been so happy.

"He'll have blue eyes, just like his father," she told him, brushing the hair away from his forehead so she could see those eyes unimpeded.

"He?" Luke asked, grinning stupidly. "You can tell already?"

Mara cast her eyes downwards and bit her lip. He had never asked, never pressed her to reveal that secret, and perhaps he had even forgotten that she had it. But Mara decided that, finally, it was time to tell him.

"Do you remember when I died on Koli?" she asked, raising her gaze to his again.

"Of course," he said softly and stroked her hair. "I almost lost you, Mara. I don't know what I would have done if I had."

Mara leaned forward to give him a soft, reassuring kiss. "You remember that I had to endure cryptic conversations with your father and four other Jedi," she said as she pulled away, rolling her eyes theatrically.

"And my mother," Luke reminded her.

"Oh, she didn't need to be endured," Mara told him. "In fact I rather liked her."

Luke smiled, his thoughts lingering on the beautiful woman in white who he'd only been able to exchange a few words with, the image bleeding into Mara's mind. Mara had told him and Leia of her brief conversations with their parents, but more importantly, she had been able to give them their mother's name: Padme Naberrie. It had been enough for them to piece together their family history, find their relatives on Naboo and bring them all a sense of peace.

"There was one other person," Mara said to bring his focus back to her. "A boy."

"Your gatekeeper," Luke nodded, remembering. "You didn't want to tell me who he was."

Mara smiled and took his hand, pressing it gently to her belly. He looked down at their entwined fingers over her tunic, and then back up at her with shock and realization.

"He was our son?" Luke asked in wonder. She recalled the image of the boy at the gate of the Force, an amalgamation of both Luke and Mara's features and yet utterly unique, and sent it to him through their bond. Luke grasped the image gratefully, and she could feel him tuck it away where he stored his most cherished memories.

"That was when I stopped being afraid," Mara said softly, stroking her husband's face. "When I stopped hiding behind all those other motivations and excuses and accepted that I loved you."

Luke took her hand and pressed his lips to her palm, his eyes bright with joyous tears. "I love you, Mara," he murmured. "And I can't wait to meet him."

"His name will be Ben," she said, giving him the last secret of her heart.

"Ben Skywalker," Luke's grin lit up his face with sheer happiness as he pulled her into a fierce embrace "I like it."

 

* * *

 

In the other world, Padmé watched the swirling mists of the Force at the gateway back to the world of the living. None of them could cross the threshold, but they were able to watch if they so chose. It was how Padmé had seen her children grow; it was how she had been able to project her image into the other world when Leia was small. The Jedi could make their image corporeal, but they had all agreed not to interfere with those they had left behind unless necessary.

So Padmé contented herself with watching her Luke learn he was to become a father, a great joy settling upon her heart. Warm arms enfolded her, and Padmé leaned back into Anakin's embrace.

"It's the happiest day of his life," he murmured against her hair. "Just like it was for mine. But he will have happier days," he added. "He will have the days I stole from myself."

Padmé could hear the melancholy in his voice, although their years in this place had given Anakin the time to forgive himself, he still carried his sorrows and regrets. But there was happiness in him, too, and Padmé turned in his arms and reached up to cup his face in her hands.

"You helped give him those days, Ani," she reminded him. "Our son is happy, and you played a part in that."

Anakin smiled down at her, pulling her into his embrace. "We should go, my love," he said softly as he stroked her hair. "Let your son and his wife have their solitude."

They checked in on them from time to time, infrequently enough that they did not feel like they were invading their children's privacy. Sometimes, Padmé watched by herself, enjoying seeing the mundane aspects of their everyday lives. Leia playing with her children in the gardens of Coruscant, Luke teaching his niece and nephews how to use their Force abilities. It gladdened her heart to see Luke and Leia take their families to Naboo to visit the Naberries, who had happily enfolded the Skywalkers and Solos into their lives.

Anakin would join her in tense moments when either of them were on a mission, his hand squeezing hers tightly and reminding her that both their children were talented, capable people, and it would be a long time before they would see them in the inbetween world. Obi-Wan would often appear at unexpected times, and Padmé had found over the years that he liked to watch the mundane moments too. Obi-Wan had watched over her son for the first nineteen years of his life, after all, and Padmé found a comforting solidarity with him.

Yoda, Mace and Qui-Gon would often be present to watch important events; the birth of Ben Skywalker and his two younger sisters; the admittance of Jacen, Jaina and then Anakin to the Jedi Academy, to be followed by their cousins eventually. There were times of heartbreak and war, and Padmé watched the sufferings as well as the fiercest joys of her children, their spouses, and her grandchildren. She could not have been prouder of their fortitude and resilience in the face of danger and defeat, for they always held onto hope.

When they did not watch the other world, they all interacted regularly in habitats simulated from their memories, serious discussions taking place in the Jedi Temple, and more casual atmospheres from a variety of their memories. Obi-Wan had once recreated Dex's Diner on Coruscant for them, and they'd all laughed and joked like the old friends they were, all past wrongs and conflicts forgotten and forgiven.

Anakin and Padmé spent most of their days together in worlds of beauty and peace, although Obi-Wan often visited. They were brothers and comrades as they had been before, if not closer, and it made Padmé happy to see it. But she was always pulled back to watch the living, and wait for the day when she would be able to hold her children in her arms.

Many years passed and peace settled on the galaxy. Padmé watched with great joy as her great-grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren began to arrive into a world of security and a family of unity and love. One by one, their Jedi friends moved on to join the Force - first Mace Windu, then Yoda and Qui-Gon, who made the final journey together. Obi-Wan stayed for many years, but when his namesake became Grand Master of the Jedi Order, he decided it was time to him to move on as well, and they said their final goodbyes. Anakin and Padmé were left alone, although not for long.

It was with a heavy heart that Padmé went to the precipice to meet Han Solo. He had died a man of one hundred and sixty, and extraordinary age for one without Force sensitivity. It was a great shock to him to arrive in the inbetween world a young man again, but had been surprisingly accepting of Padmé's explanation of who she was and why he was there.

"I've seen a lot of strange stuff in my life, lady," he'd said with a roguish shrug. "This ain't even in the top ten."

It had been a tense moment to introduce Han to Anakin, but pointed verbal jabs soon dissolved into good-natured teasing, which Padmé suffered through for many years. Still, Han would often join her at the gateway and provide salient, amusing commentary on the events of the other world. Time moved faster for them, when they were not watching, and the years quickly slipped by.

Finally, the day arrived, and Padmé prepared herself for the moment she had waited centuries for. Luke and Leia were the children of the Chosen One; effectively the grandchildren of the Force itself which had granted them unnaturally long life. This had been extended to Mara through her bond with Luke, allowing the three of them to live well beyond the normal human lifespan. But Luke and Leia had fulfilled the destiny set down to them, stabilising the galaxy in an age of peace and prosperity and rebuilding the Jedi Order to great new heights.

It was therefore not in a blaze of glory that their lives ended, but surrounded by their children and descendents. Padmé watched anxiously, Han and Anakin beside her, as the end came. Leia lay peacefully, bracketed on either side by her beloved twins Jacen and Jaina who each held one of her hands, with Anakin perched on the end of the bed. Leia's offspring were old men and women themselves, but in that moment they were children again as their mother scolded them lightly, Han chuckling at the sight of it. Luke and Mara lay on the other bed with their arms around each other, entwined until the end.

The room was full of generations of Skywalkers and Solos who had come to say farewell, and Anakin squeezed her shoulders as they looked upon the generations of their family. Padmé fought back tears as she watched her son and his beloved prepare themselves.

"Are you ready, my love?" Luke asked as he took Mara's hand and pressed a kiss to her palm.

"Yes," Mara smiled at him, and squeezed his hand. "Don't let go."

"Never," Luke promised, and in tandem they closed their eyes.

It took a few long moments for them to appear in the inbetween world, and when they finally did, as young as they had been the first time they had come, Padmé couldn't hold back her tears. Luke and Mara stood before her, their hands still joined as they oriented themselves in the white expanse.

"Hello, my son," Anakin called, his voice thick with emotion.

Luke gaze turned to them, and Padmé felt her heart burst. "Father," he returned with a vibrant smile. "Mother."

"Oh, my darling..." Padmé swept forward and pulled Luke into her arms, sobbing with happiness at finally being able to hold him. She clutched him to her, her son whom she had ever been allowed to hold, her child who she had watched and cried over and who had always been just beyond her reach. Luke returned her embrace firmly, his own tears flowing as he laughed and cried and held her. She had waited so long for this moment, and it did not disappoint, her heart almost complete.

Eventually, Padmé felt Anakin's hand on her shoulder again, and she reluctantly pulled away to let her husband embrace his son, followed quickly by Han.

"Hello again, Mara," Padmé greeted her gently, cupped the woman's face in her hands and holding her gaze for a few moments, before enfolding her into an embrace. "My second daughter." Mara accepted the gesture happily, softening into Padmé's arms as she would a mother.

"Where's Leia?" Luke asked as he extracted himself from Han and Anakin.

Padmé smiled and looked over Luke's shoulder. "Right behind you, Luke," she told him. "As it was when you were born."

Her beautiful daughter appeared and was quickly swept up in Han's embrace, Padmé content to wait until after the reunion between husband and wife. Then she held out her arms as her tears began to flow again.

"Leia," she called longingly to her. "I am your mother."

Leia approached, her dark eyes wet. "I know," she whispered softly. "Mother." And then Leia threw herself into Padmé's arms, and they both cried some more. Padmé stroked her hair and whispered her love as finally her heart was full and complete.

When reunions were finished and they all had spoken and embraced and taken their fill of one another, Anakin and Padmé led them to the gateway of the Force. There was no reason to watch the living any more, for all knew that they had left behind a stable and complete family which required no guardianship.

There was no need for them to wait any longer.

 

* * *

 

_At the beginning at the end of everything, the Force waited. It was everyone who had ever been born, and everyone who ever would be born. It was the stars and the blackness of space and planets therebetween. It was the entirety of time in an instant, and yet each second was made from millions of years. It was light and darkness and hope and despair, and there was no life or death because everything was unending._

_And yet for a moment all was still, for the most favoured children of the Force were returning._

_To the Force's most favoured son, her Chosen One, she sent the boy's other mother, Shmi Skywalker, who had endured pain and torture to wait for her child to hold her in his arms before she died. It was the Force's gift to her precious creation, to finally embrace his mother in the happiness of reunion._

_To her Chosen One's beloved, she sent Sola Naberrie, the great bond of sisterhood undiminished by time or death._

_To her treasured Leia, the Force sent those that had raised the child in pure love and devotion: Bail and Breha Organa._

_And Han Solo, who the Force had sent to the inbetween world to wait for her treasured one so that they could join her embrace together, it sent the great companion Chewbacca._

_For her cherished one, her lightbringer, the Force had difficulty choosing, for Luke Skywalker's most beloved were already with him, and those he had lost were so numerous and valued that it was not possible to send them all. Eventually, the Force chose the most humble of her children, those that taken in the boy with boundless love, and also his champion and guardian; his erstwhile watcher._

_And finally, for Mara Jade, the woman who was already half-joined with the Force, she sent those Mara had not been able to see the first time. The man was tall and flame-haired, while the woman was short and petite, but both had gentle faces Mara had only seen in her earliest memories._

" _Come home, daughter," the man had said, and reached out his hand as tears fell from Mara's face. She took the hand of her gatekeeper, as did her companions as they crossed the threshold into the heart of the Force._

_Every star in the galaxy shone brighter in that moment, a radiance unparallelled as the Force welcomed her children back to the heart of herself, enfolding them them together in her eternal embrace._

_There they would all be one, forever._


End file.
